


In 80 Days

by katamariofsoul



Category: Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!
Genre: Gen, Human!Monkeys, OC's - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-24
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2017-12-06 09:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 55,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/733916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katamariofsoul/pseuds/katamariofsoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After one of Valina's spells goes haywire Chiro must find and regather the monkey team. Small problem though, the team's been transported to Earth and separated. Oh yeah, and they're human now too. Oops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Diaspora

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, name's katamariofsoul, on ff.net I was known as katamariape, and so far this is just about my only successful piece of work, although I've gotten back into writing in a good way over the last two months. Hope you guys enjoy it here on A03. And a little warning, I started this a WHILE ago, so if you notice that these earlier chapters seem a lot less well written, well that's what several years of writing does. Please don't be afraid to leave comments of any kind.

"Hello?" Chiro yelled in the empty control room of the robot. "You guys? Are you there!"

Chiro moved through the robot, checking first Antauri's, then Otto's, then Sprx's, then Nova's, and finally Gibsons' room, searching for his team members.

"Antauri? Sprx? Nova? Gibson? Otto? Anyone?"

It was no use; after searching the robot from top to bottom, he couldn't find the monkey team anywhere after the fight.

To be honest, he had been expecting that this would happen.

About three hours ago, he and the monkey team had yet another encounter with Valina and Mandarin's clone on a small planetoid. The fight had been turning in their favor when Valina started to perform an incantation. As she was about to finish however, Chiro landed a hit on her.

It was then that the trouble for the team really started.

* * *

"Ah!" Valina scream-hissed in her unique manner as she was thrown back by Chiro's strike, away from the orb she had been painstaking over as Mandarin and a small group of formless distracted the team.

"Give up Valina!" Chiro exclaimed as he stood over her

"No you idiot! I wasn't finished!" she exclaimed as she pointed to the dark sphere she had been forming. Chiro glanced back and saw what she was talking about; the sphere was bulging and glowing.

"Chiro get away from that!" Gibson exclaimed as he noticed the situation. Unfortunately, it was too late, and the sphere went out of control and began to emit a bright light.

"Ah!" Chiro and the rest of the team shielded their eyes as the light enveloped them along with Valina and Mandarin.

* * *

When Chiro awoke, the monkey team, along with Mandarin, had vanished. Valina had not however, and had awoken at the same time as him.

"Ugg…" she groaned as she stood up, obviously still disoriented. Chiro made his way over to her, stumbling in his groggy state.

"What did you do?" he asked, still dizzy, but very angry at the disappearance of his team.

Valina glared at him and shouted "Me! This is your entire fault you stupid boy!"

"What do you mean mine!" Chiro yelled back, only restraining from hitting her because she was his only source of information.

"If you hadn't stopped me, the incantation would have worked fine! Now who knows what effects it had?" she glanced around and noticed the monkeys were gone and smirked "Although I can't say the result has me upset."

That comment was too much for Chiro and he socked her across the jaw "Shut it! Mandarin's gone too you know!"

His language and action shocked Valina who was used to the boy being a living saint, but she recovered after a second, cackling at the absurdity of it all. "You think I actually care about that stupid abomination! Mandarin only served as competition to pleasing my lord, I'm more than ecstatic he's gone."

Chiro was enraged at her. "Tell me what happened to them!" he shouted as he grabbed her by her robe.

"Get your hands off of me boy!" Valina swatted Chiro away. "I have no idea what happened to them, and I'll be pleased if I never find out. Goodbye Chiro." She grinned and used a spell to teleport away.

Chiro ran to the spot where the witch was less than a second ago in a futile attempt to stop her.

Spinning around a few times hoping to find anyone else on the rock, the teenager then fell to his knees.

"Ahhh!" Chiro yelled in frustration and anger, pounding his fist to the ground.

* * *

Chiro had had no luck finding the team and had retreated to his room.

"What should I do?" he thought out loud and sighed. He had no idea where the monkey team was or even if they were still alive- no, he wouldn't think that, there was still hope. There had to be some way he could find them.

Wait! He had established a special link with Antauri ever since he was placed inside that robotic body. Maybe if he meditated like Antauri had taught him, he could find them.

The lights had been shut off and Chiro sat in the middle of the room legs crossed.

 _Okay, gotta clear my mind of all other thoughts, and concentrate on finding the team._ He took a deep breath and began to meditate.

Slowly, all other thoughts and sensations faded away as Chiro found himself in a dark void.

_Gotta find the monkey team._

An image slowly came into view, it was a planet, at first it appeared to be entirely blue and white, but as it came into focus brownish green splotches were visible as well

 _Oceans and continents_ Although Shuggazoom had none, the numerous planets the team had visited had a wide range of terrains.

 _This is it, that's where the monkey team is_!

He had been so worried, but now he knew they were at the very least alive. He opened his eyes "Now…" he sighed "How do I find that planet?"

Suddenly however, he seemed to know what direction the planet was in, as if some kind of magnet had been placed inside his mind.

"Wow!" he thought aloud "This is awesome. I better thank Antauri when I find him"

"Now just to get to the planet by piloting the robot all... by... myself…" Looking around at multiple controls, half of which he had no idea how to use, Chiro sighed in resignation. "This is going to take a while."


	2. Orenmanida

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2, which is one of the longest ones I've written yet.

**TIME:** 2 Months Later  
 **LOCATION:** Seoul, Republic of Korea

A young man sat at the stream's edge. Eyes closed, in deep, meditative thought.

"Antauri!" a voice sounded in the distance, faint, calling out for him.

 _Where do I know that voice?_ he thought to himself

"Antauri!" it sounded again.

 _It sounds like a boy's_...

"Antauri!"

 _Where do I know that voice?!_ he inwardly exclaimed.

"Antauri!" This time it was closer, demanding in tone, and...female?

Just as he began to open his eyes to investigate: "Antauri wake up!" sounded right in front of his face.

The young man's eyes flew open and he lurched back in shock.

"Whoa, whoa!" he tried to flail his arms to balance, but he was too far past his point of equilibrium to right himself. He was about to fall into the cold stream..."Gotcha!" a hand came out of nowhere. The delicate fingers wrapped firmly around his wrist and pulled him up.

He righted himself, disoriented from the fall, before seeing who it was who rescued him. "Hyun Jae!" he exclaimed. In front of him was a Korean girl of eighteen, with short and straight black hair, wearing a plain pale yellow shirt and faded black jeans. She was staring at him, arms crossed, grinning.

"What?" he asked. Her grin was slightly disturbing.

"I finally snuck up on you that's what!" Hyun Jae chuckled. Her grin suddenly dropped and she donned a disappointed expression. "But you were asleep, so I guess it doesn't count." She smiled again, more relaxed this time. "Why are you sleeping in the middle of the day you lazy boy?"

"I wasn't sleeping, I was meditating, Jae." He remarked irritatedly.

"Yeah sure, perfect excuse." She remarked. Antauri was a boy about her age, with trimmed black hair and wearing an uptight school uniform in prime condition. He preferred wearing it for some _strange_ reason. But what Hyun Jae thought was his most striking feature was his calm silver eyes, two pools of molten liquid. It made one automatically respect him...or wonder if he was hiding some secrets you didn't want to know.

"Jae, I am serious, I was almost on a breakthrough on recollecting my memories before you disturbed me!" Antauri exclaimed. He immediately looked guilty.

Hyun Jae's face fell. "Oh Antauri, I'm so sorry for that!"

Hyun Jae cursed herself for disturbing him. She knew Antauri had been trying to regain his memories for a while now.

About two months ago, she had discovered a boy naked and unconscious outside her apartment building. She had been present when the ambulance had taken him away to SNUH. After debating with her common sense, Hyun Jae had decided to go check on him at the hospital. This was partly out of curiosity, partly because she believed the boy might be involved in a crime, and she loved a good mystery...

* * *

 

_The steady, haunting beep of the machine broke the silence._

_Hyun Jae sighed as she stared at the boy who was attached to various medical apparatuses in the stark white room._

" _When are you going to wake up?" she asked, rhetorically._

_Being the one who discovered him, Hyun Jae was allowed to visit the boy and had been sitting there for the last hour. After placing a small vase with flowers on his bedside table (she wasn't rude), she'd taken up her post. Waiting for him to regain consciousness._

" _Please wake up soon," she pleaded. "Visiting hours are almost up."_

_Sure enough, the door creaked open less than a minute later. Hyun Jae twisted around._

" _Miss?"_

" _Yes?" she asked the young nurse, whose haggard appearance showed she was reaching the end of her shift._

" _Visiting time is almost over," the woman informed her politely. "Its best you leave now."_

_She sighed and began to collect her bag. There was no point arguing. She began to rise from her chair._

" _Ungh."_

_Hyun swung her head around. Was he...? The boy's lips started to move, trying hopelessly to form words. His eyelids began to twitch._

" _Oh my! You," she indicated to Hyun Jae, "stay here while I get the doctor." The nurse dashed out of the room. Her clicking heels were heard from afar._

_Hyun Jae only had ears and eyes for the boy. She noticed he was beginning to open his eyes, but still seemed to be in a stupor._

" _Hell...Hello?" she asked._

_This was the first time she'd actually been able to examine his features. The boy looked to be her age and of some sort of East Asian background, but beyond that he had a rather plain face. The boy's eyes began to open and Hyun Jae's mouth formed into a perfect 'o.' His eyes seemed to be a metallic silver color, though it might be the florescent lighting. It was angelic, more beautiful then that of a newborn's. Unlike she had ever seen before._

" _Uhn…" he moaned, smacking his lips together he then spouted an eloquent "Wha?"_

_Hyun Jae shook the boy's arm gently. "Um, hello?"_

_The boy looked at her with puzzlement,_

" _Where am I?" he asked. His voice was much deeper then she expected._

" _You're at SNUH." Hyun Jae answered._

" _Where?" the boy asked again. Before Jae could answer, however, the doctor entered._

" _Young lady, please step away from the patient." The graying doctor ordered._

" _Yes, sir," Hyun Jae answered and was quick to do so._

" _Hello young man, are you alright?" the doctor asked._

" _I believe so, just a little sore." The boy grunted as he sat up_

_The nurse helped the boy as the doctor continued._

" _Well my name is Dr. Bak, I'm your attending. What's your name?" He asked this in a tone suggesting he had done this hundreds of times._

_The boy thought for a moment, scrunching his eyes to concentrate. "An-Antauri."_

_Hyun Jae raised her eyebrow at the unusual name. (Chinese or Japanese, perhaps? Vietnamese? One of those freaky Western names? Definitely not Korean)_

" _Where does that name come from?" Hyun Jae asked._

_She regretted asking. Dr. Bak gave her a look that, very plainly, said "shut up."_

" _I...I...I don't know," Antauri answered._

Maybe his parents made it up _. Hyun Jae reasoned to herself._

" _Well 'Antauri,'" the Dr. Bak said, "do you know why you're here?"_

" _No, I don't." said Antauri. His face contorted, like he was trying to hold onto the memory of a dream._

_Dr. Bak frowned slightly at this before resuming. "That's not exactly surprising. This young lady..." he looked towards Hyun Jae._

" _Hyun Jae Choi, sir" she answered giving him her name, after which she shyly smiled and waved at Antauri._

" _Right, Ms. Choi here discovered you unconscious behind her apartment building." Hyun Jae sighed in relief that Dr. Bak didn't mention she found him naked. "All our tests say you're fine, but I need to ask a few questions, alright?"_

_Antauri eye's widened. His lethargy was apparent, but he nodded his head in agreement._

" _Would you have any idea how you got there?" Dr. Pak continued._

_Antauri shook his head. "No, I haven't the faintest idea."_

_Bak exchanged a confused, worried look with the equally baffled nurse, but he wasn't too panicked, short term amnesia was common in people discovered unconscious. "Well, what's the last thing you remember?"_

_Antauri thought hard about this question before he looked up at the doctor. "Nothing...I can't remember anything."_

_He frowned and scrunched his eyes shut. Dr. Bak looked genuinely alarmed, all signs of apathy towards this case lost._

" _Antauri, are you sure?" Dr. Bak reiterated. "Can you remember anything? A family member? A place? A face?"_

" _No," Antauri said sadly, shaking his head. "All I can remember is my name. And it might not even be mine."_

_Hyun Jae merely watched from the side as this happened. Although she felt sad for Antauri, she was also impressed. While most people would start breaking down or at least cry in such a situation, Antauri remained fairly calm._

_Of course, he could just be faking amnesia_ , she reminded herself.

* * *

 

After two months, Hyun Jae had retracted this suspicion. After more medical tests and subsequent questioning by the police, it was found that, though there seemed to be no visible cause for it, it was positive. Either Antauri really had near total amnesia or he was a very good liar.

 _After all_ , Hyun Jae thought. She watched Antauri collect his things from the streams edge. _How many people would fake meditating for hours on end just to put on an act?_

Subsequent searches by police records found no records of someone matching Antauri's name or description _anywhere_. Not even in another country! It was as if Antauri popped into existence behind her apartment that night, like God had placed this agent with angelic eyes onto Earth.

 _It's like one of those Japanese animes_ , she joked as Antauri picked up his bag. _All he needs is the superpowers. He already has the whole mysterious personality covered._

Hyun Jae ended up taking Antauri in, as she was the only person to offer, and they were both legally adults.

 _Well that's what all the medical tests said,_ Hyun Jae reminded herself, which meant no adoption papers were needed. Because of the large inheritance her mother left behind when she died, Hyun Jae would be able to afford taking care of both of them. Space wasn't a problem, either, with a nice, roomy apartment at hand.

Admittedly, Hyun Jae had originally done it because she was intrigued by the events around Antauri, vague puzzles she'd hoped she would be able to solve. If nothing else, the act would be looked at positively when she signed up at the police academy after high school.

 _How many Korean police academies would be willing to accept someone whose past suggested they were the spoiled daughter of rich parents?_ she thought, grimly.

However, over the course of a few weeks, she found herself becoming close to Antauri. She could now safely say they were best friends. Not that this was really saying all that much. Hyun Jae was always a loner at school, and, well, Antauri hadn't had the chance to make other friends.

Hyun Jae was also pleasantly surprised to learn that, though he wasn't a genius, Antauri was relatively intelligent. He had been able to catch up with the curriculum quickly, despite being placed in school in the middle of senior year.

"Jae?"

Hyun Jae's head shot up at this. "What Antauri?"

"Are you ready to go?"

Hyun Jae blinked for a moment before realizing what was going on. "Oh, sure."

"How did you know I would be here?" Antauri asked her as they made their way up the steps leading further away from the peaceful stream.

Hyun Jae rolled her eyes at the question. "Because you always come to Cheonggyecheon after school, duh."

Antauri smirked. Hyun Jae looked back at the small stream, surrounded by foot traffic and tall shrubbery.

"I can't blame you, though. It is nice."

Antauri sighed and glanced at the heavy traffic and skyscrapers only a few meters away. "It's a pity it's artificial."

Hyun Jae merely laughed a small laugh and hopped up the last two steps. "What do you expect in the middle of Seoul? Come on. It's getting late and we should head home."

The two made their way through the busy streets towards the apartment, dodging traffic before passing a set of stands.

"Wait Antauri!" Hyun Jae cried out. Antauri glanced back.

"What Jae?"

Hyun Jae motioned towards the stands. "They've got a sale on Hangwa! I'm going to buy some, do you want any?"

"Um, sure, could you get some dasik? I'll pay you when we get back to the apartment."

"No, it'll be my treat," Hyun Jae shook her head. "Now wait here and I'll go get it."

With a smile, Hyun Jae took off into the stands.

* * *

 

Antauri stood on the street corner, waiting for Hyun Jae. In truth, the events of a few minutes earlier had disturbed him more than he let on.

 _I'm positive I could have recovered a memory just then_. He theorized. He wasn't mad at Jae though. It was obviously an accident, she had done so much for him the last two months and he couldn't begrudge her. He just felt so empty. Antauri desperately wanted his memories back; he knew that in his past were very important people that he had left behind. That voice must have belonged to one of them!

So wrapped up in his own thoughts that it was a shock when he returned to the real world, still on the corner, and still by himself. Antauri peered around for Jae.

"What's taking her?"

* * *

 

"Now then I've got the dasik for Antauri, should I get anything else?" Hyun Jae asked as she browsed the Korean confectioneries.

"Gah, none of this makes any sense!" a voice sounded near her. Hyun Jae looked around and spotted the source: a boy in his early teens with messy black hair. She cocked her head at his unusual choice of clothing. She didn't recognize the brand name on the red sweatshirt, covered with sweat and dirt. Her instincts yelled foreigner.

Hyun Jae looked around and could've let out a very frustrated groan. No one else was coming to the boy's aid, so she would have to be the responsible citizen. (Automatically, a picture of herself wearing a superhero costume popped into her mind.)

"Um, excuse me, kid?"

The boy's head shot up in surprise, revealing his bright blue eyes. Definitely foreign.

"Um, yes ma'am!" the kid responded.

Hyun Jae frowned. Did she look like a ma'am?! She was eighteen, for God's sake! She recomposed herself. "I've noticed you're having trouble over here. Let me guess, you just moved here and know how to speak the language, but not how to read it?"

The boy grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, sort of, how did you know?"

"Because the package you're reading is upside down."

"Oh, um, thanks,' he blushed.

Well, there was no going back, now. Antauri could wait. This kid seemed interesting.

"It's no problem." _At least you learned the language, more than I can say for most other people who move here._ "So what are you doing here kid?"

The boy stuttered before answering. He obviously wasn't used to talking to older women. "Well, I asked the officer on the corner where I could find something sweet, and he said I should go here."

 _That wasn't exactly what I meant_. _I'll have to go with it._ "Well if you're new, the best bet is this pack of variety Hangwa," she held up a pack of the confectionaries and handed it to the kid. "It's got all the different kinds and it's on sale."

"Thank you, um…" The boy took the package.

"My name's Hyun Jae, but you can call me Jae," she extended her hand. "What's yours?"

"Chiro," the boy answered

 _Weird name. I seem to be encountering a lot of those lately._ "Well, I've got what I want. Good luck, Chiro!"

Chiro smiled. "Thanks Jae, bye."

Hyun Jae exited the stand, waving. "Bye Chiro!"

* * *

 

Antauri glanced at the clock on the nearby ad screen. It had been 15 minutes. Jae was normally a fast shopper, so why was she taking so long to get some sweets? Antauri then glanced at the stand and saw her exiting. All that worrying for nothing. She probably couldn't decide; there was a lot to choose from around here.

As Jae exited, someone called out from inside the stand to her. Her voice carried. "Bye Chiro!"

 _Chiro?_ Antauri thought. _Why does that name sound so-_ "Hnngg."

The world began to spin. Antauri gripped his head and doubled over as intense pain shot through his head. There were rushed footsteps. Some people passed by, others began to whisper among themselves, asking if they should stop and help. The footsteps got nearer. He sensed Jae kneeling beside him, her voice determinedly calm, but with a hint of fear.

"What's wrong?!" asked Jae.

"I don't know," he responded through gritted teeth. "My head… it feels… Aggh!"

"Oh God!" Jae's voice shook terribly. "I'm – I'm calling 119 right _now_!"

Suddenly though, as fast as it came, the pain dissolved. "Wait Jae." He grabbed Jae's arm, the cell phone's screen reading the word '1.' "I'm...I'm better now."

Jae couldn't seem to respond. "Are...Are you sure?"

"Yes, I – I'm just a little dizzy, that's all."

She looked doubtful, however relieved.

"...Alright,' said Jae, with renewed strength. 'But were going to take the bus home!"

"But Jae we're only a few blocks away." Antauri reminded her as he tried to balance himself.

"You can't even stand on your own; we're taking the bus and that's final. Look, here it comes now."

They clambered over to the bus, forced to hesitate as passengers exited. Antauri was forced to rely on her for support. Degrading, but, nonetheless, necessary. His mind began to wander...Chiro...he was certain now that the name was familiar to him, albeit quite vaguely. Who had she been calling to?

"Antauri?"

Who was it? Antauri scanned the crowds, hoping that he'd recognize a face.

"Antauri!" Jae yelled. Antauri jerked his head up and looked at her. "Come on!"

Antauri shook his head rapidly, shaking off his momentary state of confusion. "Right. Sorry Jae." Antauri boarded the bus and sat down as it took off towards their apartment. He craned his neck to stare out the window.

* * *

 

Chiro was getting really sick of this weird language. Sure, the power primate allowed him to understand anything a sentient life form said and them to understand anything he said, but it didn't do _crap_ when it came to writing.

 _I couldn't even pick out a pack of candy - or whatever this stuff is - without that girl's help._ He blushed a little at that memory. The situation had been a little embarrassing, and it wasn't assisted by the fact that what's-her-name was a fairly attractive older woman.

At least she was helpful. He as he opened the pack of… stuff, and took a bite.

 _Good_ , he decided as he tasted it. _Weird and chewy, but good._ Despite the language difficulties, the planet was turning out to be pretty good as well.

* * *

 

After a month of piloting the robot by himself, Chiro arrived within a few million miles of the planet. Automated warnings began popping up, alerting Chiro to several facts that the computer had been able to pick up by scanning the planet.

One, the planet was widely inhabited by sentient life. (This in itself did not surprise Chiro, it was how many of them the computer picked up that did). Two, the planet had _a lot_ of artificial satellites which Chiro would have to avoid on his way down unless he enjoyed destroying the planets infrastructure. And three, the planet was armed with several detection systems that seemed liable to blow him out of the sky if he so much as looked at them funny.Unfortunately, the computer was only capable of doing basic scans automatically and Chiro had no idea how to initiate the more advanced ones, that normally being Gibson's job.

He ultimately decided to put up every sort of cloaking and shielding device there was available, he was grateful he knew how to do that at least, and landed in the most uninhabited part of the planet he could find. After jet packing (followed by walking once he got within sight) to the nearest town, he asked the locals some questions and found out that the planet he was on was called Earth. Chiro had, in fact, landed in an area called Siberia that was located in a country (a concept Chiro had yet to wrap his head around) called Russia. He also found out that although some of them were apparently suspicious about it, they had no contact with an alien species.

Then he had to hightail on out of that town before people started getting out their pitchforks. His questions apparently freaked out the locals. Who knew?

His weird sense that had guided him to the planet soon took him east, across wide tracts of uninhabited tundra and later forest. Fortunately, he had stocked up properly on food before leaving the robot, and his jet pack let him cover wide distances. His sense led him to an ocean. Potential trouble, he might not be able to cross the ocean without passing out from exhaustion or freezing to death.

He ended up stopping at a nearby coast town and to his immense relief discovered that the ocean was actually a sea that he could easily fly over in a day. Although a pain, Chiro would end up being relieved when he learned that a land route would involve him having to go through something called 'North Korea.' This apparently was a place where you were often killed on sight if he understood the locals. (He might not, though. Power Primate or not, some of these people made no sense at all).

After crossing this sea, Chiro was drawn to the large city he was in now, apparently called Seoul. So far he had no luck finding any of the monkeys. When he'd entered the city, the sense that drew him became fuzzy. (Like someone had just knocked down one of his own satellites to see if it would throw him off the deep end.) This worried him that the monkeys might have moved somewhere else, but as soon as he exited the city, he was drawn back. Chiro just hoped the fuzziness merely meant that he was being drawn to different monkeys at once and that they were spread across the city. (He refused to entertain the idea that the monkeys might have been split apart further than that.)

* * *

_Well_ , Chiro thought as he finished his Hangwa. (He couldn't stop wondering what the stuff was called so he had asked a passer-by.) He brushed himself off. _Better get moving. I don't have any money to buy food on this planet, I just was lucky someone dropped some_.

Unfortunately, after buying the snack, he only had a little change left over, and his own supplies were running low. He had been hoping finding the monkeys wouldn't take this long.

Chiro soon made his way past the stands he had bought the snack at. He spotted the girl again. A small plummeting sensation hit him when he spotted her arm-in-arm with a boy; around her own age and better looking then he was. But despite having some sort of grudge towards the guy (why he had this he couldn't imagine, he already had Jinmay back home), he couldn't help but have the feeling that he knew him from somewhere. The guy seemed distracted.

The girl was talking to him in a very annoyed (concerned?) tone. Chiro picked up on the end of it "-tauri?"

What did she say?

"Antauri!"

 _What?!_ Chiro exclaimed inside his own head. No, it was just a coincidence!

Then the boy spoke up. "Right, sorry Jae."

He KNEW that voice, but how? It was impossible it couldn't be...

"Antauri?!" Chiro said. Somehow, that was Antauri! How and why didn't matter, he had found him! Then Chiro realized something else.

The bus was edging away from the curb, with the guy's... _Antauri's_ face, visible through the window!


	3. Annyonghi Kyeseyo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clear a few things up from the last chapter. 1) Yes, I'm saying that the Power Primate has given Chiro and the monkeys the power of omnilinguality. (I mean are you really telling me that every planet that they've visited all share the same language? On Earth alone there are thousands.) 2) It hasn't given Chiro the power to read written language, because in theory, a spoken language is much easier to translate than a written one (even mystical powers have limits after all); Antauri – and as we will see, the other monkeys - have gained the ability to read the language via the spells side effects.

**TIME:** 3 Hours Later  
 **LOCATION:** Seoul, Republic of Korea

Antauri sat in the dark silence of his room, thinking about his day. Well, more the part where he was heading back to the apartment. What had started out as a rather banal walk home had turned very… interesting.

_Where do I know that name from?! Chiro…_

He only got a headache the more he thought about it. He sighed, and lay down upon his bed.

* * *

The door of the pitch-black apartment opened with a click. Hyun Jae entered and flicked on the light switch, illuminating the room.

She sighed. "Home, sweet home."

"Hmm," was Antauri's response.

She walked into the small kitchen and placed the candy on the granite countertop as Antauri walked in and sat at the circular, wooden, kitchen table.

"So how are you feeling?" Hyun Jae asked.

Antauri smiled and gazed at her with his drooping silver eyes. "I'm perfectly fine Jae. You shouldn't worry so much." Well that wasn't completely true, after he sat down on that bus he found that he was exhausted and still had a throbbing - yet much smaller than before - headache.

Jae smiled as she put Antauri's dasik away. "Alright Antauri if you're sure." She then looked at him and frowned slightly. "But you look ready to collapse, so go get some sleep okay?"

He sighed, she was absolutely correct "I suppose you're right."

Jae smirked "Of course I am."

Antauri merely snickered; he then stood up and exited the kitchen. "Good night Jae."

* * *

The room he lay in was relatively spartan. Jae had told him that she could afford much more than he had asked for, but Antauri _had_ insisted. Besides the fact that he refused to take advantage of Jae, he really didn't mind. The walls were blank of the adornments that would normally be present. There were no pictures, paintings or posters. The furniture matched this theme; only a small bed, desk and chair were present.

On the desk, which was kept meticulously organized, sat a lone wooden picture frame; the picture it held was of him and Jae at the Children's Day festival last month. Despite the happy memories it instilled, he frowned. Although he cared for her deeply, having Jae alone wasn't enough, especially when he was certain there were people in his past that cared for him.

* * *

"Finally! I found it!" Chiro shouted, gaining the attention of several passer-bys who could only wonder why the strange foreign boy was yelling. After seeing "Antauri" get on board the bus with that girl he had met earlier, he had chased after it to catch up. However, the high speed of the bus, combined with heavy traffic and his inability to use his jetpack as long as other people were around, meant that he soon lost sight of the vehicle.

Chiro was devastated until he realized something. The freaky sense that had led him to this weird city was working again. After several hours of trying to navigate the maze of streets, he had finally found the building. Having gotten lost multiple times had made him impatient though and he hadn't really looked at the building; its levels stacked on top of each other like a cake. When he took a good look, he was slightly surprised.

This _is where Antauri is staying?!_ His eyes widened _._ The place was obviously high class, even someone not native to the planet could tell. _How the heck can he afford to stay at a place like this?_

* * *

In the apartment's living room, a TV gave off its fluorescent glow as the man on the screen advertised...something, Jae wasn't paying attention. _Nothing good is ever on when I have free time_.

Right now she was thinking about school, or rather what would happen when school was over. Antauri and she would be graduating in less than a year. Although Antauri didn't have much of a plan for after high school, Hyun Jae knew he would be fine; he was that sort of person.

No, Hyun Jae was worried about herself. She wanted to get into the South Korean police force, but even getting into the police academy was nearly impossible for a girl and graduating was another story all together. Every year only a few female applicants graduated and Hyun Jae was determined to be one of them. She was both academically and physically fit for the job and money wasn't an issue.

She sighed, the money her parents left her would be more than enough, but she really missed them. Her father had been a lawyer, and it was through him that Hyun Jae came to be interested in law enforcement. He was extremely talented and had made the family millions. Three years ago however, both her parents had died.

 _It was supposed to be their second honeymoon,_ she recalled, _and mom had always wanted to go to Hawaii._ Unfortunately, the plane they were taking had faulty wiring; a cockpit fire had broken out over the Pacific, and the plane...

Well, to keep it short, they'd never found their bodies.

"Jae?" Hyun Jae jumped off the couch and whirled. Standing there was Antauri in his matching gray pajamas, a fitting choice she had supposed when he bought them.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Antauri what are you doing up? I thought you were asleep." She was a little ticked, Antauri _always_ snuck up on her like that without her ever hearing him.

"I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep" he answered smiling. His smile then disappeared to be replaced by puzzlement. "What about yourself? Normally you're in bed by now."

Hyun Jae glanced at the clock on the wall, the hands of which read 11:24. "Oh! I hadn't even noticed it was this late!" Her stomach growled, seemingly in agreement.

Antauri coyly smiled. "You forgot to have dinner again, didn't you?"

Jae was known for doing this; Antauri always had to remind her when it was time to eat. This habit of hers gave Hyun Jae the nickname of "Gandhi" at school; in fact she remembered when Antauri found out about the name, it was his first week with her, in fact, and his third day at school.

* * *

" _Uhhn…" Jae banged her head on her desk during passing time as her stomach protested its lack of food. Why couldn't that clock hurry up so they could go home already? And why had she forgotten both breakfast_ and _to pack a lunch!? Again!?_

" _Jae?" Hyun Jae looked up from her banging and saw Antauri leaning over her desk, looking concerned. "What's wrong?"_

_Jae smiled and calmly responded. "Nothing Antaur-" She clasped her stomach and moaned a little._

" _You're hungry?" he asked._

_Jae nodded. "Yeah."_

" _But when I offered to share my lunch, you said you had a big breakfast this morning."_

" _Yeah I um, lied," she admitted._

" _Why?" he asked even more puzzled. "I had enough more than enough."_

" _Hah." At the sound of the laughter both looked up to see a young man their age snickering. "It's because she's Gandhi, that's why new kid. I thought you would know that about your girlfriend."_

_Hyun Jae growled a little and threw her pen at the boy's face. "Shut up Jin-Sang."_

_The blue pen hit the boy between the eyes and fell to the ground. "Hey! What was that for!?" he exclaimed._

" _Go away Jin-Sang!"_

" _Fine." He sighed, and walked back to his group of friends._

_Hyun Jae glared as he walked away; she was getting really sick of all these people calling her and Antauri a couple._

" _What did he mean?" she glanced back at Antauri._

" _What does Gandhi mean?"_

_Hyun Jae was confused for a moment and then laughed. "Oh, it's about my whole 'always forgetting to eat' thing. When I was little I'd make up a silly little story about me going on a hunger strike whenever someone saw that I wasn't having lunch. You know, like Gandhi?"_

_Antauri was perplexed. "Who's Gandhi?"_

* * *

Hyun Jae would later find out that besides his general amnesia, Antauri had absolutely no knowledge about history or animals what-so-ever.

 _Just adding to the whole angel from heaven/ anime thing,_ she thought as she came out of the memory, _Then again he could just be a runaway from North Korea. History education there is extremely distorted, and they have practically no wild animals left._

"Jae!" Hyun Jae snapped out from her train of thought to see Antauri standing in front of her. _I have got to stop doing that_.

"Yes?"

"I asked, if you wanted me to make dinner for us."

"Oh!" Jae blushed a little "Umm, no that's all right, I'll do it."

Antauri smiled at this; though she forgot to eat a lot, when Jae cooked the results were usually fantastic.

Hyun Jae got up and made her way into the kitchen. After flicking on the lights she opened the fridge. _Hm, let's see. We've got some leftover someyon and gochujang._

"How about some bibim guksu?" she called out

"That would be great." Antauri called from the living room.

The phone rang. Antauri glanced to his side at the cordless phone. He picked it up mid-way though another call.

"Hello?" Antauri answered.

Jae glanced from the kitchen entrance, eyebrow raised.

"Yes this is him speaking." Antauri nodded and gained a look of confusion "I see. Are you sure it's me he wants?"

_Who's he?_

"All right, thank you. I'll be right down." Antauri hung up the phone and started back to his room.

"Antauri, who was that?" Jae asked as she emerged from the kitchen.

"It was the lobby receptionist, apparently there's a young boy down in the lobby looking for me."

Jae's face took on the same look of confusion as Antauri's. "Did she say who he was or what he looked like?"

Hyun Jae stood there for a moment thinking "Okay Antauri, you go get dressed then. Dinner will be ready by the time you get back, okay?"

Antauri smiled "Thank you Jae."

* * *

Unfortunately for Antauri, the elevator was broken. Normally he wouldn't mind this, but he was in a bit of a rush and they lived on the 28th floor. Finally, after 700 stairs (give or take a few), Antauri had reached the lobby. At the front desk was the landlord's niece; Eun, who often acted as the receptionist, packing up for the night. From the way she looked, Antauri supposed that besides his initial estimate of exhaustion, she was also sick.

"Hello. Eun?"

Eun jumped and screamed a little. "Don't hurt me! Take the money!"

 _Right,_ Antauri remembered a few seconds too late _she's extremely skittish._

Eun slowly turned.

"Ohh. Hey, um, Andauri?"

"Antauri, Eun."

"Right right right, sorry bout that, um ye-" Her face scrunched up suddenly. "Wait a sec." Eun reached down to pickup a tissue from the desk and sneezed into the paper. Eun crumpled up the tissue and disposed of it before turning back to Antauri "Sorry, cold or allergies or… something. Right anyway, some foreign kid came in here a few minutes ago asking for you. He said it was super important and he needed to see you right away."

Antauri glanced around the room but saw no one else amongst the marble floors.

"Don't worry; he's just in the bathroom right now. He should be out any second."

"Thank you Eun, you should head home. You look like you're ready to collapse."

Eun sighed and picked up her bag, "I am, and I have an entrance exam tomorrow too. I'll need all the sleep I can get." She hefted the bag onto her back and made towards the entrance. "See ya Tauri!"

"That's _An_ tauri."

"I knew that!" she shouted back as the large glass door shut behind her, leaving Antauri alone in the apartment lobby.

* * *

_Okay Chiro, you can do this._ Chiro pushed the bathroom door open and entered the small hallway that branched off the lobby. _It's Antauri, everything will be great, and he can help me find the rest of the team._

Of course, such a positive train of thought was difficult to keep up in such a stressful situation. _But how did he become human? Why is he here and not looking for the rest of the team? What if it's not actually_ him _?_

Unfortunately for him, there was no time to rethink this. If the receptionist girl at the front desk was right, Antauri should be waiting in the lobby right this instant.

Chiro emerged from the hall into the lobby to see a young man with black hair facing the opposite direction, looking out the glass doors that made up the entrance of the building.

"Antauri?"

Could it really be?

The young man turned around quickly, his eyes flying open at the sight of Chiro. _Those eyes, they're the same color as Antauri._ He made his way closer"Antauri it's me; Chiro."

 _Please, it's him, I know it, this_ has _to be A-_ "Chi-ro?" Antauri said slowly, as if in pain. He then closed his eyes and held his head "Chiro h- how do I kno- know you?" Chiro was both worried and confused

"Antauri what do you mean? Don't you remember?" Antauri didn't answer and only grimaced in pain. Chiro reached out for the young man "Antauri what's wrong?!" Chiro grasped his shoulder to provide support when Antauri suddenly gasped, eyes flying wide open. Then, he passed out.

Chiro caught the young man, before quickly setting him down on the floor. _Oh man, oh man! What do I do?!_ Despite having basic first aid knowledge -you had to if you're going to spend large potions of your time fighting for your life- Chiro did not know how to deal with fainting, so he was panicking a little.

 _Okay Chiro, first things first,_ He glanced towards the glass, and thus see-through, doors. Fortunately, no one was walking by or charging in to 'help'. _Let's get Antauri out of the lobby, where everyone who passes by can see us!_

Unfortunately, Chiro soon learned that Antauri now weighed much more than he did previously; he had only made it into the hall that lead towards the bathroom before he had to put Antauri down. _Okay, this is ridiculous, I'm not getting him anywhere like this._ Then, as if someone had been listening, Antauri started to glow. Chiro had to shield his eyes, _Oh crap, not again!_

When the glowing had ended, Chiro opened his eyes. As soon as he did, he gasped.

"What? Did the spell wear off?"

Sure enough, on the floor in front of him was now a silver, robotic monkey. Said monkeys eyes then began to open.

"Chiro?" he whispered, struggling to wake up.

"Antauri, are you okay?" Chiro moved to help after initial hesitation.

Antauri began to stand up, taking Chiro's hand for help. "I'm fine Chiro, just disoriented." He sighed as he stood on his own "What happened, Chiro? Where are we?"

Chiro was dumbfounded "Antauri don't you remember anything?" Antauri leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to think. "We were… fighting with Valina and Mandarin. Then… one of Valinas spells went wrong. After that…" he trailed off, staring into space.

"Antauri?" Chiro spoke up after several seconds of this.

Antauri then spoke "Hyun Jae."

 _Hyun Jae? Isn't that the girl I saw at the stands?_ _Wait! Maybe Antauri knows her; they did get on the bus together._

Antauri sighed "Where's the rest of the team Chiro?"

Chiro got off from his train of thought at this and tapped his finger together "Well umm…"

Antauri sighed. "The spell must have affected them too." He pushed off from the wall. "We must go and find them then."

He made his way towards a side exit at the end of the hall.

"Antauri wait!" Chiro ran after him.

Antauri turned around "Yes Chiro?"

"Antauri, don't you want to at least… say good-bye to that Hyun Jae girl you were talking about?"

"NO CHIRO!"

Chiro stepped back in shock; Antauri never yelled at him like that. Antauri looked away sadly

"I'm sorry Chiro but… I know what she would do and… we've dragged enough innocents into this mess."

Okay, Chiro could understand that; but he still had one thing to ask. "Do you love her?"

Antauri stared at him for a moment, shocked by the question, then sighed "Yes but… not in that way. We should go now Chiro, and find the rest of the team."

* * *

Hyun Jae was speechless; what she had just heard was incredible. _I mean spells!? This is insane!_

After waiting for several minutes up in the apartment, she had gotten sick of waiting over a meal that was very quickly becoming soggy. After discovering to her annoyance that the elevator was broken, she began her long trek down the stairs. After arriving in the lobby, she was surprised to see it completely empty. Soon however, she heard voices coming from the small side hallway.

She still hadn't peeked around the corner yet, Antauri could always catch her when she tried to eavesdrop on him, and she wasn't willing to risk it. _But what is he talking about 'dragged enough innocent into this mess', and whose Valina and Mandarin._ Mandarin was only slightly strange to her, she knew it was Chinese. But Valina? What was with all these weird names?

Then that Chiro kid asked the question. "Do you love her?"

Hyun Jae was floored. She had never thought of Antauri that way. To be honest, she wasn't sure about how she felt about him.

"Yes but… not in that way."

She let out a silent sigh, but she couldn't tell if it was of relief or sadness.

"We should go now Chiro, and find the rest of the team." Then she heard the alleyway door open.

She launched into the hallway to see it empty with the door closing.

 _I have to stop him;_ she thought as she sprinted down the hallway, _I have to find out what's going on here._ She slammed the door open

"Antauri!" But the alley was empty. "Antauri…" she whispered as she looked around desperately for any sign of him. There was nothing. Her eyes began to tear up. _I didn't even get to say goodbye._


	4. Aotearoa

**TIME:** 12 Days later, 5:00UTC+12

**LOCATION** : Wellington, New Zealand

At a small port on the outskirts of Wellington, New Zealand, Chiro and Antauri descended down the side of an otherwise insignificant cargo ship.

"We would have made it here perfectly safe and much faster," said Antauri.

Chiro jumped off from the side of the ship and glanced around to check that they were unseen. "Well Antauri, how do you suggest we would have snuck you onto an airplane? Secondly, how would I have been able to get a ticket? And finally, even assuming we did all that, I was not about to get on one of those metal death traps."

Antauri jumped down from the side of the boat to join Chiro. _For all the fears a boy willing to face the terrors of the universe is to have, Chiro's is of Earthly technology._ He smirked at the irony. It was understandable. The planet was much less technologically advanced than Shuggazzom and much more dangerous if you ignored the entire Skeleton King situation that plagued their home.

Ultimately, this phobia Chiro had developed led them to decide upon stashing aboard a cargo ship, a technology Chiro was much more familiar with. Unfortunately, both of them discovered that there are very few ships that traveled between South Korea and New Zealand, which they had been able to determine, was their next destination.

* * *

The morning after finding Antauri was not turning out pleasant for the two. For one, with Antauri back to his original state they had to stay away from all the main roads to avoid being seen. Secondly it was raining. Hard.

In one of the many back alleys Chiro and Antauri were huddled under a tarp that hung off the side of a building, trying to escape the relentless downpour. The tarp wasn't doing a very good job though and the two were still getting wet. In frustration, Chiro began to bang his head against the side of the building.

"I hate this planet!"

Antauri glanced over at Chiro with a look that said both 'stop that' and 'hey, I've lived on this planet for the last two months' simultaneously.

Chiro smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Antauri smiled in return. "I understand what you mean. In my time living here, I don't remember it ever raining quite this hard, although there was this one time…"

Chiro's grin became genuine as he listened to Antauri, he had been lonely for the last two months and it was great to have someone to be with again. But he soon lost his grin as he remembered something that had been bugging him. It was making him feel guilty and he really needed to ask Antauri.

"Hey Antauri?" Antauri snapped out of his recollection.

"Yes Chiro?"

Chiro began to nervously drum his fingers together. "Did you um… How was it, ya know…"

Antauri rose a non-existent eyebrow "How was what Chiro?"

"I mean, how was it, having it back?"

Antauri sighed and smiled "I take it you mean having an organic body again?"

"Yeah…"

"It was pleasant I suppose, although with my lack of memories I couldn't really appreciate the state. Why do you ask?"

Chiro glanced away "I just feel really guilty; I mean you've lost that twice now. And this time it's my fault."

"Chiro listen to me."

Chiro looked at Antauri.

"First of all, you and the team matter much more to me than having an organic body. And secondly, even if I did care that much, my ability to fight the Skeleton King comes before my own wants, and I think we can both agree that this body is much better suited to that task."

Chiro brightened up and laughed a little. "Yeah, couldn't have you fainting on us at every fight could we?"

Antauri closed his eyes and smiled "Hmm, yes...Well it sounds like the rain is lightening up."

Chiro lifted the flap up to see that the rain had slowed to a drizzle.

Antauri glanced out towards the street and noticed something. "I know where we are."

Chiro looked at Antauri in curiosity "You do?"

"Yes, I couldn't tell before in the heavy rain, but now I know where we are. Hyun Jae took me here once to go shopping for school supplies."

Chiro held back a laugh. Antauri in school! I'd pay to see that.

"Chiro, I think I have an idea on how to find the rest of the team."

Chiro stared at Antauri in puzzlement. "Huh?"

Antauri pointed out of the alley, across the street "You see the store right there?"

"Yeah, that's the one you said you visited before, right?"

"Yes. Do you have any money with you?"

Chiro fished through his pockets and pulled out some bills. "Yeah, I have two of these ones left." He handed the red bills to Antauri.

"₩5000 bills; that should be enough."

"Enough for what?"

"I want you to go in that store and buy a map of the entire planet. If I'm right, we'll be able to find the rest of the team much easier this way."

* * *

Sure enough, Antauri was right. By focusing on the map, together the two of them had been able to roughly pinpoint where their closest teammate was.

_And of course, that would be in New Zealand._ Antauri thought as they snuck off the pier. _It makes me worry about how far we could actually be spread out. We need to get the team back together as fast as possible._

Also unfortunate was the fact that they had no idea which of the remaining monkeys was here. Nova, Sprx, Otto, Gibson; it could be anyone.

_This is not going to be easy._

* * *

A young man with hazel eyes walked down the street in the suburbs of Wellington towards a small shop. He was unusually tall, about six-and-a-half feet and was well built, making him an imposing figure. Wearing a baseball cap that covered his bald head, he made his way over to the shop's metallic garage door.

There was a series of harsh thumps. "Otto! Open up! I'm back with lunch!"

The young man heard a small ruckus of crashing objects as someone made their way to the door. _That kid is such a slob, one day there's going to be an accident._

"Coming Jeff!" The garage door slid up revealing a young face, underneath a mop of messy brown hair.

Jeff grinned "About time Otto." He glanced behind the teen, into the garage to find an atrocious mess. "Otto! I leave for two hours and you manage to wreck the place!"

Otto grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Uhm, yeah, sorry about that. I accidentally knocked over that pile of spare tires you had and they kinda crashed into everything."

Jeff could only sigh and face palm.

_God, the kid's a freaking prodigy with machines; but if I leave him alone for too long he'd probably end up setting the place on fire._ Not that Jeff could entirely blame Otto. Although he was of average height, Otto was very gangly; he was very prone to stumbling or dropping things. _It's like he was made for a shorter frame._

"So um...what'd ya get for lunch?"

Jeff set the brown paper bag he had been holding down on the table and began to empty the contents. "I went to the dairy down the street. For you I got ham and Swiss on whole wheat, and a bottle of Coke; while I got the turkey and cheddar, with a frosty one on the side."

Otto's eyes widened "But it's barely past noon!"

Jeff chuckled "Relax, I'm saving it for later. I'm 22, Otto; I've had four years of experience now. Well, technically five, but don't tell my mom that!"

The two laughed and sat down to lunch.

Just as Jeff was about to take his first bite though, he realized something. _Where's..._

* * *

_Crap I'm late!_

A 13-year-old girl rushed down the street, her strawberry blond hair flying behind her.

_Dammit this is the second time this week, he'll be so pissed!_

She barged through the front door of the shop and vaulted into the garage.

"Sorry I'm late!" The two boys were sitting at the small table they had set up in the shop, eating.

"That's the second time this week, sis."

"And the third this month." Otto added

"Thanks, Otto." She grumbled sarcastically

"No prob', Ally."

Alice could only roll her eyes; she just couldn't stay pissed at the older boy. Ever since her brother had hired him two months ago she had had a crush on the emerald-eyed boy.

_Why couldn't he have been my age?! Wait, if he was my age, Jeff wouldn't have hired him. Ugh, whatever, I just hope I get over this stupid crush soon._

She didn't delude herself; she knew all she had was a crush, he was three years her senior after all. But Otto was very fun to be around, and she liked the pure green of his eyes so much, she suggested he dye his hair the same color. Sure enough, Otto had green hair for the next two weeks. After that, Jeff said she wasn't allowed to give him fashion tips anymore.

"So boys, how's things at our humble panel banger today?"

Jeff finished off his sandwich, "Not bad, Otto was able to fix that mess that Ms. O'Neil dragged in last night."

"Really? Wow, great job Otto!" Although she knew next to nothing about cars, even Alice had been able to tell that the cars engine was in horrid shape.

Otto blushed "Thanks, but it wasn't that messed up."

That was another thing she really appreciated about Otto, he wasn't always bragging like the boys at school.

"Well, sis," Jeff tossed her a clipboard "you have inventory work to do."

"Ugh." She liked manning the cashier much more, but that wasn't needed very much. Ever since their dad left them about five years ago, they had been running the shop to help support the family.

"Quit moaning and get to work."

"Yes, master."

Jeff rolled his eyes and Otto snickered.


	5. If you're Abel

**TIME:** 1 Day Later

**LOCATION** : Wellington, New Zealand

The engine began to sputter wildly and cough up black smoke.

"Ah no!" Otto fumbled to turn the engine off as Jeff ran in.

"Otto what the hell's going on?!" he covered his mouth to prevent breathing in more of the noxious fumes. Otto yanked the keys out of the ignition.

"I'm sorry Jeff I was just experimenting with this old eng-"

"Otto what did I say about you doing experiments?!"

Otto smiled nervously and began to fidget under Jeff's glare. "Um… never to do them unless it's on my own time outside of the shop."

"Very good Otto. Now tell me; what time is it?" Otto glanced at the clock on the garage wall.

"Noon?"

"Good. Now, where are we?"

Otto began to stammer "Th-th-the auto shop?"

"Correct. Now Otto, does either of those fit the criteria?"

"No."

"That right. Do you know what that means?" Jeff began to grin.

_Oh no._

"NOOGIE TIME!" Jeff grabbed Otto and put him in a headlock, as he gave Otto the hardest noogie he had ever received.

Otto struggled and cried out "Ally, help me, please!"

The door swung open a few seconds later as the strawberry-blond ran into the room. "Otto what is it, are you…" her yell faded as she saw what was going on. "You two are so fucking immature."

Jeff immediately shot up from his 'activity.' "Hey! Watch your mouth young lady."

Alice rolled her eyes "Whatever." She stomped out of the room.

"Hey get back here!" Jeff soon ran after her, abandoning Otto.

_What does that remind me of?_ Whenever the two of them bickered, Otto always got this strange sense of déjà vu. _Maybe it's from before I had amnesia._

About two-and-a-half months ago, Otto had found himself in the hospital with complete memory loss. He could remember nothing except his first name; no last name, family members, friends, or anything. After searching missing persons cases from across the country and coming up with nothing, he had been put in an orphanage.

Otto had given up any hope of being adopted within a few days. After all, who wants to adopt a sixteen year old? But about two months ago he had decided it was time he got a job. In two years he would have to provide for himself. It wasn't long until he found Jeff, Alice, and their auto shop.

* * *

" _Okay Otto, you can do this." Otto was psyching himself up outside what he hoped would be the place of his new job. Although he was extremely confident when around friends or even people he was mere acquaintances with, Otto became very nervous when he was given full independence._

_Otto was and always has been by nature, a social creature, and relied upon others to supply his confidence. Because of this, his first few days at the orphanage had been extremely difficult, it wasn't until he had made connections with the kids at there that he had been able to do anything._

_But there was no time to reminisce for Otto, he had made his way the front door._

" _Here goes nothing."_

_The sign on top of the dull concrete building said 'Taylor Mechanics' imposed over the image of a wrench. The owners had place a help wanted ad in the paper just that morning, so Otto figured his chances for getting the job were pretty good. He had always been attracted to mechanics. Well, at least for the last few weeks he had, but he felt that he was the same way before his amnesia._

_Otto pushed the glass door open. "Hello?" No one seemed to be present in the shop. "Hello! Is anyone here?"_

_He heard rustling from the back "Sorry, I'm coming!"_

That's weird. That sounded like a kid.

_Sure enough, about a second later a girl, who looked to be just entering puberty, rushed into the room. Upon seeing him the girl blushed._

Did I come at a bad time?

_The girl decided to speak up "Oh, um, hi, how can I help you?"_

" _Yeah, nice to meet you, my name's Otto. Um...do you work here?"_

_For some reason the girl lost her blush. She put her hands on her hips. "What's that supposed to mean?"_

" _Huh?"_ Okay, now I'm confused.

" _Are you trying to say that I'm too young to work here?! Or is it because I'm a girl?!"_

_Otto was now slightly frightened by the girl._ And why does this remind me of someone?

" _Hey!"_

_Otto snapped out of his train of thought._

" _Are you even listening to me?!" the girl demanded._

_Before Otto could respond, a man who looked to be in his twenty's came into the room._

" _Alice, quit scaring away the customers."_

" _But Jeff he-"_

" _No buts Ally." The man -_ Jeff _, Otto reminded himself - turned towards Otto with a polite smile._

" _Hi my name is Jeff, do you need our services?"_

" _Um, actually no, my name is Otto and I'm here..." Otto fished through his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper which he held up. "...for your job opening."_

_Jeff blinked and stood, stunned, for a second. He cleared his throat "Well Otto, if you read the ad you'd know this isn't a filling job or anything like that. I need someone to do actual repairs, so I'm looking for someone older and with more experience. I'm afraid you'll have to go elsewhere if you want work."_

" _But I_ can _do repairs, honest. Just give me a chance, please."_

_Jeff glared at him with a skeptical eye._

" _Hey Jeff, how 'bout we give him a test so he can prove himself?" suggested Ally._

_Otto raised an eyebrow, not that he was grateful for her intrusion._ Wasn't this girl just yelling at me?

" _Well how do you propose we do this Alice?"_ _asked Jeff._

_Ally gained a concentrated expression. She remained silent for a calculated period of time before speaking. "How about we get him to fix that old engine from Mr. Truman's car. He died last month right after he dropped it off, so it's not like you ever got around to fixing it, and we definitely don't need another useless piece of scrap lying around here."_

_Jeff hesitated. "Alright, Alice, that sounds fair. But Otto, I've gotta warn you, repairing that engine won't be easy."_

_Otto only smiled "Well I'll do my best."_

_Jeff walked Otto towards the garage, where he had the engine stored in a back corner._ Well actually Otto, I really under exaggerated the state of the engine; so unless your some kind of super genius there's no way you're _best_ will fix it.

* * *

_1 hour later…_

" _Done!"_

_The engine revved to life after its long hibernation. Jeff was completely baffled._ How is this possible? When I looked at it I thought right away that I would end up selling this thing as scrap! I guess he really is some sort of genius. _Jeff could only smile, he had a prodigy at his disposal now._

" _Well Otto, when can you start?" he asked._

" _Really? I'm hired?!" Otto beamed._

" _Yeah, you fixed that engine. Why wouldn't I hire you?"_

_Otto frowned a little and looked back towards the main part of the shop. "Well, I'm not entirely sure, but I thought that girl back there hated me."_

" _Oh you mean my sister?"_

" _That's you're sister?"_

_Jeff laughed. "Do you think I would've hired someone that young otherwise?"_

" _Yeah I guess that's true," Otto grinned._

" _And between you and me," Jeff leaned in. "I think it's that time of month for her, so don't be offended."_

" _I HEARD THAT ASSHOLE AND IT'S NOT TRUE!" Ally screamed from the shop as a ruckus indicated she was making her way to the garage._

" _Oh shit! Otto, RUN!"_

* * *

Otto still remembered that day very well, especially the part when he had to hold Ally back to stop her from slugging Jeff with a wrench.

It was two months later and although they hadn't officially adopted him; after discovering he was an orphan, the siblings let him use the empty storage room as a living space.

_It's great to have friends like those two._

* * *

Meanwhile, another set of two were making their way down the street. Well, to be accurate, one was going along the rooftops to avoid being seen.

Antauri signaled to Chiro to enter one of the small alleyways between the buildings as he descended into it.

"Chiro, do you feel it?"

Chiro nodded. "Yeah; one of the team's close by." He rubbed his hands together and shivered. "Wish it wasn't so cold though. I mean wasn't it summer when we left that 'Korea' place. It can't have changed that fast."

Antauri nodded "That's true, but this planet has a slight tilt to it Chiro, that means its winter here instead."

Chiro only sighed. He missed their uncomplicated Shuggazoom. "Who do you think it is?"

Antauri smirked "Well I'm not certain, but I saw something from the rooftops. Go look outside the alley, down the street."

Chiro proceeded to do so. _Okay so there's what looks like a restaurant, I think that's a bank, and there's..._ Chiro stopped abruptly. Although he couldn't read the words on the sign, he recognized the outline of a wrench. A mechanic's shop. There was only one monkey he knew who'd make a beeline for a mechanic's shop. "Otto!"

* * *

"Jeff!" Ally called from the main shop.

Jeff looked up from the engine he was working on. "What?!"

"Someone's here to see you!"

Jeff sighed. "Otto."

Otto looked up from the magazine he was reading, 'Popular Mechanics'

"Take over for me, 'kay?

Otto hopped up from his seat. "Sure."

Jeff exited the room as Otto began to tinker with the engine.

_Okay now, Jeff already took care of the oil, so what else is there? Well this camshaft looks a little rusty…_

Otto reached down for some oil.

CRASH.

Otto banged his head on the hood.

"JEFF!"

Otto sprang up and dashed out of the garage.

When he entered the room he was horrified to find the front store window shattered. Jeff was lying on the floor bleeding from his side. Alice was bent over him, her own brother's blood across her hands, her eyes wild and terrified as they made eye contact.

"Ally what happened!?"

She pressed harder against the wound with what was once a white cloth. "Otto call 111! Hurry!"

* * *

"So why don't we just go in there right now?"

Antauri sighed; Chosen One or not, Chiro didn't always think ahead. "Because Chiro, I doubt Otto will be the only one there, and we don't want to cause a scene."

"…Yeah, I guess you-"

CRASH.

Both of them whirled around at the noise that had emanated from somewhere along the street. The two made their way towards the corner of the alley to glance around the corner. The street was relatively empty. They only were able to catch a glimpse of a figure fleeing from the shattered front window of the mechanic shop.

"That guy's getting away!" Chiro made to give chase before Antauri grabbed his arm.

"No Chiro, you go make sure that no one is hurt over at the shop. I will catch the criminal."

"But I thought you said we can't let anyone see you!"

"That won't be a problem Chiro, now go."

* * *

"And please hurry!" Otto hung up and made his way over to Ally and Jeff. "Is he getting better?"

Ally looked up with bloodshot eyes. "No, the bleeding won't stop." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Help me hold the wound okay."

As he did so they heard someone. "Hey!"

She and Otto glanced up to see a boy about her age running towards the shop.

"Is everyone okay? I heard this window smash and somebody screamed."

"No, my brother. He's bleeding really badly, that bugger stabbed him! But Otto already called 111." She glanced over at Otto and noticed he was staring at the boy who in turn was also staring.

"Otto!" Otto snapped out of his trance-like state.

"Right sorry, I'll go get the first aid kit. We should at least try to patch Jeff up before the ambulance arrives."

Otto went back in the garage where they normally kept the kit, for accidents while repairing the cars.

"You," Ally indicated. "What's your name?"

"Chiro, how can I help?"

"Okay Chiro, my name's Ally. I need you to hold down this cloth to slow down the blood flow."

Chiro knelt down and grabbed the cloth as Ally let go. "What about you?"

Ally sighed "Well someone really needs to clean up this glass before someone else gets hurt." Ally made her way towards a closet in the back as she muttered under her breath: "Stupid… had to go and get stabbed…"

* * *

_Stupid, that was incredibly stupid._

A man in his mid-30's was currently making his way through the back alleys. His forearms were covered in small lacerations.

_Why did I have to stab him? I'm such an idiot, now I'll never get any money from him. Not only that but the shit had the balls to dodge my stab, so I missed his heart._

There was rustling behind him, he whipped around and drew out his knife.

"Alright whose-" He stopped mid-sentence. It was just an alley cat that had brushed against some old boxes. "Dumb fuckin' cat."

He turned around to continue on his way. When he did a neon-purple hand came was thrust towards his face.

The man was unconscious the next second.

* * *

After several minutes the ambulance had finally arrived along with a small group of police. The EMT's had loaded Jeff onto a stretcher after wrapping his stab wound and the few lacerations on his back and arms from the broken glass. A few minutes before they arrived Jeff regained consciousness, but he was still pretty out of it.

"Ally remember ta' water the fish and feed the plants."

All three teens were puzzled "Doesn't he mean water the plants and feed the fish?" Chiro asked.

"We don't even own fish _or_ plants." Ally answered.

"Well there is that cactus in the back." Otto reminded her.

"That won't need watering, genius."

Otto laughed. "Yeah I know. Hey I forgot to ask you your name!" He extended his hand to Chiro. "I'm Otto."

Chiro accepted the hand. "I'm Chiro."

Again, as before, Otto spaced out completely, out of seemingly nowhere.

Chiro knew why, but Ally was confused.

"Umm…Ot-"

"HEY KIDS!"

The three of them whipped around, Otto once again snapping out of his state. A police officer approached them.

"Name's Officer Kenny." Officer Kenny was a lithe man with hair that had begun to gray. "Which one of you called 111?"

Otto raised his hand. "I did Officer Kenny, name's Otto."

"I take it you saw the crime then?"

Otto shook his head. "No, I heard a crash and found Jeff that way with Ally. I made the call after that."

Kenny looked at Ally. "I presume you're Ally, young lady?"

Ally nodded.

"So you saw the crime?"

Ally began to twirl her hair, a nervous habit. "Yeah. I-I saw it. Jeff's my brother."

Kenny directed his attention towards Chiro. "How bout' you kid? You see anything?"

"N-No sir, I just heard the window smash and came to see if anyone was hurt."

"Okay then, Sheila," he indicated Ally. "You're going to have to come back to the station with me so we can file a report. Your friend can come too if he likes." He turned to Chiro. "You should head home kid."

"Okay, um see ya' Ally, see ya' Otto." He waved as he ran off.

"Okay you two, into my car." He waved the two teens into the backseat of his cruiser. "And I'll need you're parents numbers so I can tell um' what happened."

Ally stopped as she was about to buckle her seatbelt. "Well ya' see, Mum's kind of in the hospital, and… we don't talk about Dad."

Kenny sighed in frustration. "What about you kid?"

"Umm… I'm kind of an orphan." Otto smiled nervously.

Kenny was tempted to bang his head against the wheel. "All right ya' little anklebiters, let's head down to the hospital then. That way I can get your mum's permission and maybe ask your brother some questions when he wakes up."

* * *

Chiro had not made it a block before he was stopped by Antauri.

"Chiro!"

Chiro whirled around, was that…

"Chiro, in here."

Chiro looked into the nearest alley. Antauri was sticking his head out from behind a collection of garbage cans.

"Did everything go well?"

Chiro slumped against the alley wall. "Well, I couldn't get Otto 'cause there was too many people."

"I expected that might happen. So it was Otto?"

Chiro smiled "Definitely." _Even_ _without his name, the personality gave it away._

"How was the person who was stabbed?"

"He'll need stitches but- Hey how did you know someone was stabbed!?"

Antauri smirked. "I told you I would take care of the man running from the shop. The police should find him passed out right outside their station." His smile disappeared. "There was blood on the knife he had."

"Oh. Yeah well, like I said, stitches but the guy should be fine…So what next?"

"We need to get Otto."

Chiro thought for a moment. "The hospital!"

Antauri frowned. "Is Otto hurt?"

Chiro shook his head "No, but I'm positive he knew the guy - um, Jeff - who was stabbed. So he should be visiting him right?"

"You're probably right Chiro. The hospital it is then."

"Yeah!" His grin suddenly left him. "Um, where is the hospital?"


	6. Chapter 6

**TIME:** 13:00UTC+12  
 **LOCATION:** Wellington, New Zealand

After several hours of walking, Chiro's legs were beginning to tire. He had been following Antauri, leading from the rooftops. But was beginning to wonder if Antauri really knew where he was heading.

Unfortunately for Chiro, the communicators he possessed were useless. It seemed that upon transforming back, Antauri was without his and he didn't doubt the situation would be different for the rest of the team. This meant that he had to drop into an alley whenever he had to talk…like right now

"Antauri, are you sure we're going the right way?" asked Chiro, glancing around for any signs of an eavesdropper.

"Yes, Chiro. I am certain this is the way to the hospital. The signs say so."

Chiro scratched his head. "Okay, I was able to understand how you could read back in Koraya -"

"It's 'Korea,' Chiro," Antauri corrected.

"Right, _Korea,_ whatever, but how can you read the signs here, even I can tell that this is a different language."

"The language here is called English. Because the dominating country on Earth uses it, it was taught back in Korea. Although it was the only subject I had trouble with."

Chiro was shocked. First, because that someone like Antauri would have trouble in a high school. Secondly: "You mean you might be leading us the wrong way and not know it?!"

"Chrio calm down, despite my difficulties with the language, I still know where we're heading."

"How?"

Antauri pointed at the sign located directly outside the ally. "Do you see that blue sign with the white shape in the middle?"

Chiro nodded. Inside the blue sign in question was a shape the looked like someone had crossed two equally long lines. "What about it?"

"On this planet, that always means hospital."

"Oh." Then Chiro realized something, the arrow under the sign was pointing down the street. "The hospital is at the end of the street isn't it Antauri?"

Antauri only smiled.

"Why did you go through the whole process of explaining the sign to me, then?"

"Never miss an opportunity to learn something new, Chiro."

Chiro sighed. "You're starting to sound like Gibson."

"Hmm, yes. I wonder where he is."

Chiro sighed as he exited the alley. "The other side of the planet with the luck we've had so far."

* * *

 

In the halls of the hospital, a pair of grey sneakers belonging to a certain teenage boy repeatedly traveled the length of the hall. From a mouse's perspective, they might have believed that the owner of the shoes was another pedestrian of the hospital. But there was a certain edge to it. An edge, which could only be translated as fear.

"Don't worry, Otto."

Otto continued to pace back and forth regardless.

"Otto, just sit down. You're making me nervous."

Otto did so for about five seconds, after which he was up again.

"Otto, the doctors said Jeff wasn't stabbed anywhere vital."

"I know Ally...It's just…what if something goes wrong?"

Ally covered her face with her hands and sighed in defeat. "I don't know. But the doctors say he'll be fine. All we can do is wait and hope for the best."

"I guess you're right." He finally stopped pacing and sat down.

After several minutes Otto smiled. "You know you really took charge back there."

Ally's mouth gaped stupidly, as though she was surprised at being suddenly addressed. "Huh?"

"Back when Jeff got…you know…You really got the situation under control."

"You really think?"

Otto nodded.

"Thanks Otto," Ally weakly smiled. "That's really kind of you, but to be honest, I was just going on instinct, I guess. I mean, I nearly pissed myself when I saw Jeff get…hurt."

"Well for instinct you did really well. I mean, you even ordered me and that Chiro…"

Ally looked at Otto and noticed that he had drifted into a trance again. It was then that Ally recalled his expression back at the shop. It was the boy's name. It had to be! _But why does this 'Chiro' have this effect on him?_

"Otto?!"

Otto snapped his head up.

"Why do you do that whenever you think about him?"

"I don't know…" Otto shrugged. "Everything gets all…fuzzy, when I think about him."

"Otto, do you think that he might…have something to do with you before your amnesia?"

"I don't know, maybe…but he could also just look like someone I knew," he sighed. "This is giving me a headache."

Ally thought for a moment. "I think he was American."

"What makes you say that?"

Ally smiled. "Well he had no accent to speak of, and I'm pretty sure you're American."

"Really?"

Ally laughed. "Yeah, you've got sort of that surfer boy accent that ya see on the TV." She giggled at the thought of Otto trying to surf.

"You really think?"

"Yeah, completely!" She stood up. "We should find him Otto."

"Yeah- wait…" Otto's smile disappeared, "We know nothing about him except his first name."

Ally sat back down, dejected. "Oh yeah…"

After several minutes Otto began to pace again.

* * *

 

"Okay so you'll stay here, and I'll go get Otto."

Antauri nodded. "And remember Chiro, don't make a scene, we can't afford to have an incident on our hands."

Chiro made his way down the street and into the hospital. He was greeted by a crowd of hospital personnel, visitors, and the classic hospital smell that (even light years away) was the same as on Shuggazoom. Despite the chaos, he made his way up to the front desk.

"Um… excuse me."

One of the many nurses stationed at the desk focused in on Chiro.

"Yeah?"

Chiro looked at the nurse and realized something… _Now there's something you don't see often._

The nurse stared for a second before getting annoyed. "Yes, I'm a _male_ and I'm a _nurse_ ; may I help you?!"

Chiro was shocked for a moment at the slight outburst but answered the man. "Umm… yeah, there was this guy that got stabbed, I helped and I wanna see if he's okay."

The nurse rolled his eyes _._ "Hm...A police officer came by about half an hour ago and said that a kid like you might come visiting."

Chiro's face lit up. "Really?! So could you tell me where his room is?"

"Hold it ya' little shrimp! I never said that you could go up there."

"But you said-"

"I _said_ that the officer said you might show up, nothin' else."

Chiro's face dropped as he tried to think of another way to get to Otto.

The nurse saw the look on his face and continued. "I never said you couldn't go either."

"But-"

The nurse cut him off again. "The police officer is up there right now, probably asking him about the stabbing. Then his family; who are waiting right outside his room, gets to see him. Finally, if he lets ya', you can see him."

"So before…"

The nurse grinned. "Yeah, I like to mess with kids."

Chiro sighed as he rubbed his temples. He _really_ was staring to hate this planet. "So can you tell me where he is?"

"Sure he's room 203. Now like I said, you'll have to wa-" He was interrupted by another nurse tapping his back. He swirled around to meet her gaze.

"Jacky, you're needed in room 141. We need help restraining this autistic kid so we can put his IV in."

"Shit, Mary, now? It's almost the end of my shift."

Mary crossed her arms. "Yes now, you can go home right after."

"Whatever; kid just follow the signs to find room 203 alright?"

Chiro stuttered. "Bu-but-" It was too late however, he was already gone.

_BUT I CAN'T READ!_

After panicking for a few seconds, Chiro calmed down. _Okay I just gotta find the room with Otto in it. Besides, how big could this place be, right?_

* * *

After nearly 5 hours of waiting, exhaustion and boredom were beginning to take their toll on Otto and Ally. Otto was sleeping and Ally wasn't far behind.

"Kids?"

The two teens shot up from their stupor to see a nurse standing in front of them.

"The officer is almost done with questioning your brother young lady; he says that you two can come in now."

They entered the room to find Jeff lying in his hospital bed with Officer Kenny sitting to the side.

"Jeff!" Ally and Otto exclaimed as they ran to his side.

Jeff held out the arm on his good side to fend them off. "No hugs!"

The two lurched to a stop, with Otto barely keeping his balance.

Ally held Jeff's hand, "So you're okay?"

"Yeah, the doctors say I should be out by tomorrow."

Both Ally and Otto sighed in relief. "Well that's good, I'm not sure Otto and I could keep the shop open without your help."

"I don't know Ally,' said Otto. "I think we could keep the shop by ourselves."

Jeff smirked. "I'm pretty sure she meant without causing massive property damage Otto."

Ally giggled at Otto's expense for a second, before being interrupted by Officer Kenny clearing his throat.

"Don't you think _now_ would be best, Mr. Taylor?"

Jeff sighed in defeat. "Yeah, might as well get it over with."

"Jeff," Ally stared at Officer Kenny, then back to her brother, her expression apprehensive. "What's he talking about?"

"Well, it's kind of my fault...we got robbed." Jeff closed his eyes and hung his head.

"I don't get it, how?" Otto said.

Jeff directed his attention towards Ally. "Ally; you know how seven months ago we got into a tight spot because Mom had to quit her job."

How could she forget that? Their mom had Chronic Renal Failure, and after a few months she went into Stage 5 kidney failure, requiring constant dialysis, meaning she couldn't work anymore. By sheer unluckiness, neither she nor Jeff were suitable donors. It took several months but a match was finally found for their mother, by that time though the siblings were quickly running out of money.

"We reopened dad's old shop to get enough money, and it worked. Why does this matter?"

"Want me to tell em'?" Officer Kenny offered.

"No, that's alright. Ally, didn't you ever wonder where I got the money to open the shop?"

"I always thought it was from the ba-"

Jeff shook his head. "They wouldn't let me make a withdrawal."

After pondering for a second, Ally cried out. "You mean ya' went to a loan shark?"

"Yeah"

"Oh for fucks-sake Jeff, what in the bloody hell were you thinking?! No wonder you were stabbed, what did you expect?"

"What's a loan shark?"

Everyone swung around to look at Otto, who had remained silent throughout the fit. Officer Kenny was the most perplexed. "What do you mean, 'what's a loan shark?'?"

"Otto's always been a tad off, excuse him," Ally sighed.

"A loan shark is…sort of a bloke who lends money to people," explained Jeff.

Otto tilted his head in confusion. "Like a bank?"

"Yeah, except most banks I know of send warning letters when you don't pay back, not stick a knife between your ribs!" Ally directed the last part towards Jeff, who flinched.

Officer Kenny noticed the impending argument and stepped in "In short young man, it's illegal money transferring, and as your friend found out, it tends to get violent."

"And the worst part is, is that I was going to give the bastard all his money, but he tried to squeeze more out of me."

Officer Kenny smirked. "And that's when things got…violent, right?"

"Yeah…"

The officer collected his hat and jacket, "Well, that should be it. I better head off to the sta-" The officer was interrupted as his pocket began to vibrate. "Scuse' me for a moment." He flipped his phone open after glancing at the caller id, "Hey Stanley what is it?" His eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

The three other occupants of the room glanced at each other in confusion.

"You're sure it's him?"

"Him who?" Ally whispered to Otto, who only shrugged.

Kenny laughed. "Well isn't that bloody great! I'll be down there in a few minutes." He hung up. "Great news! Apparently they caught your loan shark, Mr. Taylor."

Jeff's eyes widened. "Really? That fast?"

"Yeah, believe it or not, they found the bloke passed out in the trash behind the station. They're pretty sure it's vigilante work."

"That's awesome!" Otto exclaimed "Like Batman!"

Ally sighed. _Sometimes Otto, I forget why I have a crush on you._

"Well, I should be off." Officer Kenny exited, leaving the three in the room.

Jeff cleared his throat to gain the attention of Ally and Otto. "This calls for celebration. Otto!" He tossed Otto his wallet, "Go buy us some real food instead of this hospital crap!"

"But where should I go?"

"I saw a take-away down the block Otto, just head there." Ally answered.

"Okay, what do you want?"

"I'll just have a salad, I'm not hungry." Ally said

"I'll have a cheeseburger Otto, fries too."

"Okay guys, I'll be back!"

* * *

 As Chiro soon learned the hard way, the hospital could be – and was – _very_ big. Okay, so it wasn't quite as big the one on Shuggazoom, but the fact that he had no idea where he was going made it seem much larger. Also, because he also had no idea how to read the room numbers, he had to stop at about every room to peek in and check if Otto was in any of them. And well…let's just say Chiro was glad that no one had tried to kick him out of the hospital so far.

_Note to self; learn what 'Quarantine' means. Those guys freaked out pretty bad._

So far, Chiro wasn't even done with the first floor, and he had seen that the hospital had multiple buildings. He just really hoped that Otto was in this one. If he wasn't, it was likely that Chiro would spend the entire day searching.

* * *

 Ironically, Otto had just left the hospital. Even more ironic was the fact that had Otto taken a slightly different, albeit equally long route, to the exit. Had he done so earlier, he and Chiro would have crossed paths.

Otto, of course, had no knowledge of this. He was currently concentrating on what he was going to get for himself when he got to the restaurant. _Should I get a soda, or a shake?_ A conundrum, indeed. Otto enjoyed going to fast-food places. They reminded him of…something, although for some reason he always felt nervous about the burgers. _Maybe I got E-Coli or something before my amnesia._

_Before my amnesia._ Otto sighed. Why couldn't he remember anything before that? He was smart enough to know that global amnesia cases were _extremely_ rare. Rare, as in "practically unheard of." Shouldn't he be able to remember something?

This brought him back to Chiro.

_I know I know him but...wouldn't he have said something if he does?_ Otto was confused by the whole thing, and thinking about it just made his head hurt. _It doesn't make any sense._

* * *

 Antauri, meanwhile, was waiting patiently in the ally. About half an hour had passed since Chiro had left. He wasn't worried; he had guessed that it might take this long. This was a rather delicate situation. He was mainly worried about Otto, specifically his attachment to the boy Chiro said Otto was visiting in the hospital.

Yes, he had been able to leave Hyun Jae behind, but...abandoning her hadn't been easy. Spending two months with her had left him very attached. The only reason he had been able to do it was because he knew it was for her safety. Otto might not see it that way.

He vaguely wondered how the others were dealing with their amnesia and what would happen when they found them; _if_ they found them.

His train of thought was broken when he spotted something green out of the corner of his eye as someone passed the ally.

_Was that...?_

He must be sure. Antauri dashed around the back of the building to the next ally. Carefully making sure he wouldn't be seen, he peeked around the corner. What he saw was a teenage boy of around 16 by his estimate, with messy brown hair and deep green eyes that were lost in thought.

_Otto._

Although he was wondering what he was doing away from the hospital, Antauri was glad for the large part. He had a chance to get Otto back in a less risky environment. It was late at night. The streets were relatively empty, only about two other people were in viewing distance, and the lack of light meant that even they wouldn't notice if he were to say...pull Otto into the ally.

_Speaking of which_. Antauri grabbed the sleeve of the boy's shirt and yanked him into the ally and back against the wall of the building.

"AH-" Before Otto could even let out a true yell, Antauri covered the boy's mouth.

"Otto, calm down." He whispered. Otto continued to struggle regardless against Antauri's grasp, not that he could blame him. "Otto, it's me, Antauri. Please calm down."

Otto quit struggling almost immediately after Antauri mentioned his name. Slowly, Antauri loosened his grip and removed his hand.

Otto focused on him, a familiar Otto-ish expression reappearing. "...Antauri?"

The silver monkey in question smiled. "Hello, Otto."

Otto keeled sideways, eyes rolling back into his head.

* * *

 Ally checked her watch once more, _Where is that boy?_ It had been forty minutes since Otto had left and he still wasn't back yet.

"Ally! Are you sure there's a take-away down the street? You might've sent Otto on a wild goose chase. I mean, I didn't see any place coming here."

Ally smirked. "Well, it's kind of hard to see clearly when you're going delusional from the pain meds they pumped in you."

Jeff laid back in defeat on the bed. "Maybe there a really long line?"

"No, I don't think so. It's a bit late for that."

"Well, go check, I'm starving and there's no way I am eating this hospital crap!"

Ally groaned in exasperation as she made her way out. "Okay, I'll go check up on mom too." She had learned years ago that nothing got between her brother and food. _Not that I'm complaining, I'm starv -_

BAM. She collided with someone as soon as she exited the room.

"Owww…" She rubbed her head as she got up off the floor.

A voice groaned. "What hit me?" She glanced up at that to see a rather familiar boy of about her age rising up from the floor.

"Chiro!" she exclaimed.

The blue eyed fourteen-year-old was surprised to see her by the look on his face. "Hi um…Ally?"

Ally smiled. "That's my name. Why are you here?" _And of all times, why did Otto have to be gone_ now _?_

"I, um…wanted to check up on your brother, see how he was doing."

"I'm glad to say he's doing much better." Her smile turned into a frown. "I never did thank you for helping, did I?"

Chiro waved his hands in a dismissing manner. "It's okay, you just forgot in the panic, I understand."

He shivered, as if recalling a bad memory, _Had something like this happen before?_

"Are you all right?" Ally asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'm just feeling a little cold."

"Well it is the middle of the winter."

"Yeah. So I'll just go inside, is that okay?"

Ally nodded as she made her way off. "Sure, I'll be back later."

She turned down the hall and went up a flight of stairs as per usual. She emerged onto the third floor and made her way down the hall to a door that had the numbers 318 plastered on the front. She knocked on the door despite knowing that the room's inhabitant was likely asleep. She was surprised however when she was greeted with a: "Come in."

Ally opened the door and was met by the sight of a frail women in her mid-40's with pale blond hair and light brown eyes. "Hey, Mum." Ally said happily, with an air of respect and love in her voice.

The women's eyes grew bright. "Hello, Ally, I was wondering when you would come up."

"You know then, huh?"

Her mother nodded, not that Ally was surprised. The nurse that attended to her mother was very compassionate and likely informed the woman the second Jeff was admitted.

"So, how are you today?"

The woman sighed as her gaze wandered to the tubes that connected her to the various medical equipment that kept her alive. "Not too bad I suppose, everything considered."

Ally sat down at her mother's side. "Well just think, only one more week."

Her mother smirked bitterly. "If everything goes according to plan."

Ally frowned. Her mother was currently waiting to receive a new kidney from the man down in the vegetative ward. It had been discovered that they were a viable match, and when the man's family pulled the plug on the poor man his organs would be donated, with one of his kidney's going to her mother. "Just relax mom, they said you're a near perfect match, and the chance of you rejecting are less then 1%."

"I also believe that the chance that both my children wouldn't be suitable matches for me is also less than 1%."

Ally only moaned. "God, Mom you're such a pessimist."

Her mothers smirk became less bitter. "Well I had to counteract your grandmother didn't I?"

Ally laughed. Although vague, her memories of her grandmother were that of a disturbingly happy woman.

"Well, I should really be going. I need to go make sure Otto didn't get lost while going to get us food."

"Otto?" Her mother was lost in thought for a moment. "Ah yes that nice boy you two introduced me to last month." She chuckled. "Yes, he does seem like the type to do that, sort of like if your grandmother was a teenage boy."

Ally cringed at the thought. "Now that's a disturbing image."

"...You like him don't you?"

"Wha - Mom! I-"

Her mother only laughed. "Relax I won't tell him."

Ally was red. "You better not."

"Oh, my little Ally's growing up, and I can't see it happening cause' I'm stuck in this bloody bed." She sarcastically bemoaned.

"It's not like it matters," Ally muttered. "It's just a dumb crush."

"A crush, huh? Well that's good."

"Yeah I guess so, with the age thing and all."

Her mother closed her eyes. "Not that, I've just got this feeling you two wouldn't work out."

Ally was confused for a moment but shook it off. "Well, like, I said, I've gotta go."

"Alright then. Now you tell you're brother that as soon as he's walking to come up and see me, or I'll kick his ass when I get home from the hospital."

Ally laughed as she left the room. "That's the spirit mom!"

* * *

Chiro opened the door and made his way inside. "Hello?"

Jeff sat up when he heard Chiro enter the small room. "Um, hello…and you are?"

"My name's Chiro, I was there when you were…you know," Chiro imitated a stabbing motion. "I wanted to see if you were alright."

"Oh yeah!" Jeff grinned. "Ally and Otto told me about you. Hey, thanks for helping. Not many people come running to help when something like that happens."

Chiro smiled and nodded in agreement. He knew from experience on Shuggazoom that although people would come running to see the aftermath of a crime, it was usually to gawk, rather then help. He glanced around the room and noticed something was missing. "Is Otto in the bathroom?"

Jeff stopped smiling and rolled his eyes. "No, the lazy little bugger went off to get us some food a little more than thirty minutes ago and still isn't back. Ally just went off to chase him down."

Chiro felt like hitting his head on the wall. _I finally find the room, and Otto's gone._ Plus the mention of food seemed to wake up his stomach, which wanted to remind him that he hadn't eaten since he was stashed aboard the cargo ship. His stomach grumbled on queue.

Jeff appeared to notice, "Why don't you go after Ally so you can meet up with Otto at the take-away? Anything's better than the slop they serve here after all." He indicated the tray of food on the other side of the room in disgust.

Chiro smirked. It was strangely comforting to know that no matter where you were in the universe, the hospital food was horrible. "Okay, it was nice to meet you."

Jeff waved after Chiro as he left. "Thanks again." Chiro exited the room as Jeff yelled: "And tell Otto to get his ass back here."

Chiro frowned, knowing Otto and Jeff would probably never see each other again. He turned around with a false smile to see the young man one last time. "I'll be sure to tell him."

Chiro hated lying.

* * *

 _Where is he?!_ By now Ally was starting to get worried, not only had she confirmed that the restaurant was not busy, but that also no one there had seen Otto. _When I find that dronga I'm gonna kick him in the nuts. No, I'll probably be so relieved I'll hug him. Actually, I could use finding him as an excuse to kiss him. Maybe then I'll finally be over this stupid crush. Actually, I'd probably just end up getting a worse crush on him if I did that._

She exited the take-away, looking up and down the street. Perhaps Otto went the wrong way and was still searching for the restaurant.

_Why did I have to get a crush on him? We'd never work. He's three years older then me, and he sees me like a sister._ Of course, Ally had no idea that these factors paled in comparison to the _real_ reason why they would never work.

Sighing as she thought this, Ally resumed her search.

* * *

Antauri meanwhile, was having problems with Otto, specifically the fact that he had yet to turn back into a monkey _and_ he was still unconscious.

_Why haven't you turned back?_

Antauri didn't understand. It was obvious that Otto had been able to remember him which had led to him passing out. What worried him was that while Chiro said he had returned to his form almost immediately, it had been almost half-an-hour by his estimates, and Otto showed no signs of change.

_Why?_ he thought. _What could possibly be different?_

He went over the situation that Chiro said had unfolded, his memory of about a minute prior to his passing out gone. He would have to rely on Chiro's accuracy. Chiro had encountered him and over the next few seconds was able to make his memories return, following which he lost consciousness. Chiro then dragged him into the hallway where he returned back to his true form.

_Could it be Chiro? Could he some how have caused it?_ Antauri thought on what Chiro possessed that might have allowed him to do it. It only took a second. _The Power Primate!_

While all of the team possessed the power to an extent, Chiro easily had the most; so much so that he always had a small ambient layer of it surrounding his body.

_Contact with the Power Primate must reverse the effects!_

He had to find out. Antauri crawled over to Otto, who he had set against the wall, and grabbed his hand. He then slowly focused on concentrating as much power as he could without accidentally activating his ghost claws. His hand began to glow an electric green, and soon Otto's entire body was engulfed by the bright glow.

He sighed in relief and exhaustion as the glow died away.

"Welcome back Otto."

He soon glanced up when he saw someone at the entrance of the alley.

* * *

_Great after searching for more than an hour, I find out that Otto isn't even there!_

Chiro was really getting pissed and his hunger wasn't helping. He just really hoped that this take-away place had Otto in –

_Wait a second,_ Chiro looked down the street in the direction of the take-away. _If Otto went that way, then he would have crossed in front of Antauri!_

Chiro dashed down the street and into the alley where Antauri had been only to notice something very important. _He's not here? Did he follow Otto?_

Chiro sighed in defeat again.

_Okay, forget me hating this planet. This planet obviously hates_ me _, with some sort of twisted passion._

Chiro left the alley and walked down the street towards the take-away. _Hopefully Otto and Antauri are there._ Just as he passed another alley though, something started glowing. Chiro swirled around to see light beaming out from the dark alley and he realized it could only come from one source. Panicked, he looked around and was relieved to find the street empty.

He entered the alley entrance to see Antauri sitting across from a green simian. Antauri looked up. "Hello Chiro, I am glad you have returned."


	7. Ō

After Antauri explained to Chiro what had happened, Chiro was relieved, albeit annoyed.

"You mean I spent hours chasing him down for nothing?!" he yelled. After everything was said and done, Chiro was still a teenage boy, and sometimes it showed.

Antauri remained calm. "Yes Chiro. It is better to be safe than sorry."

Chiro sighed and slid down the wall, sitting on the ground.

 _I shouldn't be so hard on him,_ Antauri thought. _He was alone for almost two months and now he has to go all of this. He has the right to be stressed out._ "It's going to be alright Chiro, we have Otto and we can find the rest of the team." Antauri left out the rest. _I hope_.

"Yeah…I guess you're right; speaking of Otto by the way…"

Antauri tilted his head in confusion "Yes?"

"If the power primate wakes you guys up from the whole spell thing, why didn't it happen when I shook Otto's hand?"

"You shook his hand?"

Chiro nodded. "Yeah, after I helped patch up that Jeff guy."

Antauri thought for a moment. "You must not have been in contact long enough. You said it took you a few minutes to drag my human body into the hall right?"

"I think it was like a minute-and-a-half, but yeah."

"Mwah?"

Chiro and Antauri swung their heads as the green monkey began to move. The two quickly made their way over where Chiro helped Otto up. "Otto, are you okay?"

"My head hurts…" he moaned as he struggled to stay upright, even with Chiro's help. "What happened?" He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to ease the pain, when he opened them he saw his two teammates. "Chiro? Antauri? What's going on?"

Chiro let go of Otto as he stood on his own.

"Otto try to remember for a moment," said Antauri.

Otto closed his eyes and tried to get a fix on his memories, despite the haze his mind seemed to be in.

"Ally!" he suddenly gasped as he tried to dash off. Antauri grabbed Otto and yanked him back before he could go anywhere however.

"Otto, what do you think you're doing. _Think carefully_."

"B-bu-but Ally and Jeff and…" he trailed off. "Nothing makes sense!"

Chiro attempted to explain. "Otto, one of Valina's spells went bad and transported you and the rest of the team here, while at the same time…turning you human. Now that you're back don't you think they might freak out?"

"No!" he yelled at Chiro, more upset then angry. "I know them better then that! They're my friends! If I explained things they would understand!"

Antauri put his hand on Otto's shoulder. "Then what Otto? Assuming they believe any of this, imagine what you would be doing by exposing them to all of it: Mandarin, Valina, and the Skeleton King. Do you really think it's worth the risk?"

Otto looked away. "It's not fair."

"They'll be safe this way Otto," Chiro consoled.

He turned back with tears in his eyes. "Can't I at least say good-bye?"

Antauri sighed. "You know the answer to that Otto."

Otto wiped away the tears. "L-let's just go, okay?"

"Alright Otto," Chiro smiled sadly. "Do you need any help walking?"

"No. Where's the rest of the team?"

"Um, well…"

Antauri picked up for Chiro. "We haven't found them yet Otto. Nova, Gibson and Sprx are still missing."

Otto seemed to snap out of his sadness and grinned. "Well, let's go find them then!"

The other two teammates looked at each other, both weary of Otto's sudden cheerfulness.

As they left the alley, the subject they had been talking about brought Antauri's thought to a subject he had been trying to avoid. _I hope Hyun Jae's okay._

* * *

  
**Location:** Seoul, South Korea

Hyun Jae _was_ okay, well physically at least. Her mental status was another story.

"What do you mean you can't find anything?!" About half the people in the room looked towards the girl before returning to what they had been previously doing. Such occurrences weren't exactly unexpected at a police station, after all.

The young man at the desk was obviously used to such outbreaks. "Young lady, please calm down, this isn't helping."

Hyun Jae was tempted to pummel the man. She held it in. "There has to be _something_ , it's been two weeks! A scrap of clothing, a sighting, _anything_!"

The man sighed as he scrolled through the file on his computer. "Ma'am, I'm very sorry, but there's been nothing. The few leads we had were false."

"What about that kid I told you about?"

"Again nothing, no one of that description was seen entering or exiting the country at any airport in the last month. And besides you, we only have one other confirmed witness of this boy; an officer whom he asked for directions. To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that an officer of the law backs up what you're saying, I'd honestly think you made him up. There's literally no other evidence he even exists."

Hyun Jae was devastated, there _had_ to be something!

The officer spoke up. "Ma'am? Is there anything else?"

"No." Hyun Jae muttered sadly, as she sulked out of the station. _Antauri, what could have happened to you? And how is that Chiro kid involved?_

As soon as she got home she collapsed on the couch where she stayed for a few seconds. _No dammit you are not going to sulk!_ She punched a pillow as she got up. _If the police can't find Antauri then I guess it's up to me!_

* * *

The three quickly made their way away from the hospital towards the ports of the city. After a few minutes they stopped for a moment, when Otto asked the big question.

"So where do we head next?"

Antauri and Chiro sighed. "Chiro, you kept the map right?"

Chiro rummaged through his pocket. "Already on it." He pulled out a folded piece of paper which unfolded to a map of the entire Earth.

Otto tilted his head in confusion. "How is that going to help?"

Antauri held his hands over the map. "Just wait Otto." Antauri closed his eyes to concentrate. After a few seconds a glowing dot formed on the map.

"Whoa! That's awesome!" Otto exclaimed.

Chiro smiled. He had to admit. He was amazed when he first saw it as well.

Antauri opened his eyes and looked down at the map.

"Where _are_ we headed next?" Chiro asked.

Antauri grimaced, "Maputo, Mozambique."

"What's wrong, Antauri?"

Antauri sighed. "It's in sub-Saharan Africa."

Chiro was confused, while Otto became worried. "Oh no."

"What?"

Antauri continued to stare at the map while answering. "In short, sub-Saharan Africa is probably the most volatile region on this planet. It has an unstable climate, leaving large portions of the populations starved and dehydrated. This in turn has led to near constant violence between the people of the area."

Chiro was puzzled. "In other words…"

Antauri looked at Chiro. "Imagine if our fellow Shuggazoomians tried to settle down in the Savage Lands."

Now Chiro was horrified. "One of our teammates is there?!"

Otto tried to calm him down. "It's not all that bad! Some of the places there are a lot better than that. Besides, it's like Antauri said, he's in a city right?"

Chiro tried to collect himself. "Yeah…yeah, I guess you're probably right. We should go there right away."

"We should find the first ship to Maputo then," said Antauri.

Otto interrupted. "Whoa wait, ship? Why not a plane?"

Antauri was about to answer when Chiro exclaimed: "I AM NOT getting on one of those metallic death traps!"

Otto stared at Chiro in confusion before Antauri cleared his throat and continued. "It will be much easier for us to sneak onto a cargo ship than a plane."

Otto thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. "We should get some supplies for the trip then. It'll probably last for a couple days. I call getting the food!"

Chiro and Antauri looked at each other and smiled in knowing agreement. They had forgotten to get supplies for their trip to New Zealand; and ended up having to steal food from the ship's crew without anyone noticing.

Chiro looked back to Otto. "Alright guys, let's get to it."


	8. Fortes Corações

**TIME:** 11 Days Later, 21:00 UTC +2

**LOCATION:** Maputo, Mozambique

"This place…" Chiro whispered. "One of our team is here?"

After their voyage over the ocean, Otto, Chiro, and Antauri found themselves in a rundown port filled with garbage. The air was clogged with fumes coming from the machinery. It was like something out of a post-apocalyptic novel or movie. But never had Chiro imagined that a place like this could actually exist.

Chiro could see further away what resembled a small city. From here, he could see that it didn't look nearly as inviting as Otto's or Antauri's cities.

Antauri put his hand on Chiro's elbow. "We would be able to sense it if any harm came to them. So far, they are fine."

Chiro looked down at Antauri, his expression nonetheless worried. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just being paranoid, that's all." He looked towards the city and sighed. "We better head out then."

* * *

In the dim back alleys of the city, a lean figure walked past several dilapidated buildings.

"I know you're here." They called. "Come out you stubborn idiot."

After about a minute of silence the dark-skinned girl 'hmphed.' "Fine, be that way; I'll just tell my dad that you were the one that started the trash fire last week."

An imposing teenage boy burst out from behind a scraggly bush. "That wasn't my fault and you know it!"

"You're an _idiot_ ," the girl laughed.

The boy suddenly realized what had just happened and became furious. "Saada you bitch!"

The girl stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow over her olive green eye. "Oh really, well, keep up that language _Sparky_ ; and I really will tell him that."

'Sparky' was steaming. "I told you a million times: _never_ call me that!"

Saada rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She scanned over the boy who was slowly collecting himself. 'Sprx' was about 16 years old, and a little less than 6 feet tall. Saada assumed he was of mixed race. Although his skin was the dark brown similar to most residents of the area, he had dark orange, nearly red, hair. Her guess was that he was mostly of native ancestry, with perhaps an Irish grandparent. Either that or he somehow stole a bottle of hair dye every week.

"What?"

Saada was broken out of her train of thought ."Huh?" Sprx was staring at her, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Sorry, just thinking." She grabbed Sprx's wrist. "Now come on, let's get back before my father gets pissed."

Sprx smirked as he was dragged along. "Yeah sure, you're just using that as an excuse to hold my hand."

Saada squeezed.

"Ow! Will you cut that out?"

"You keep that up and I'll just squeeze it harder."

Sprx snickered. "'Squeeze it harder' huh?"

Saada frowned before realizing his meaning a second later. "That's it!"

"OWW! OWW! OWW! Okay, okay I'M SORRY!"

* * *

After several minutes of walking, the two made their way towards the backdoor of a small brick building. It was a depressing area in a sad state, but nevertheless Saada confidently pulled open the door and strolled inside.

"Father, we're back!" she called.

A deep voice came from upstairs. "Do you have Sprx with you?"

"Yes."

"Good." Footsteps could be heard descending the stairs and Saada's father came around the corner. The man was slightly taller than Sprx at 6'2'' and had eyes the same color as his daughter's. He looked at Sprx and sighed. "Why do I always have to send Saada out to get you before curfew?"

Sprx crossed his arms. "I can take care of myself."

Saada's father walked up to Sprx and stared down at him, "You really think that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I'm old enough aren't I?!" Saada could only watch. She hated it when this happened.

"Sprx this isn't just about you being old enough, although that's part of it; but it's mostly about the fact that no one outside of this orphanage knows who you are. It doesn't matter how tough you are." He jabbed his finger at Sprx's chest. "There are plenty of people in this city who are tougher and willing to take advantage of you. And that's _if_ someone doesn't try to kill you first for insulting them!"

Saada would have smirked if the situation was less serious. She personally thought the latter scenario was much more likely.

Sprx pushed the hand away. "Fine, Isingoma." He growled. He began to walk down the hall. "I'm going to bed!"

Saada sighed as her father tried his best not to chase after the boy and pummel him. "Don't worry, Father, he just says all that because he's frustrated."

"I know, I know. You know when I was his age I was actually worse?"

She laughed. "Yeah mother told me. Where is she by the way?"

Isingoma smiled in nostalgia, "Just like her…Um she's in bed already, she had a rough day."

Saada smiled. "I can imagine." While her father ran most aspects of the orphanage, her mother home schooled most of the younger children; a thankless task. Together her parents ran this small, yet functional orphanage. It was probably the best in the city; mostly because her father's brother lived in America and often sent funds over seas to keep the place running.

"I'm going to head up to bed alright father?"

"Okay, Saada, good night."

* * *

Sprx grumbled as he collapsed onto the cheap bed. Still, it was much better than what most orphaned children had in the country he supposed. He appreciated what Saada's family did for him and the other kids. But he felt like something was missing.

He snorted into his pillow. _I have freakin' amnesia, of course I feel like something's missing. I just wish I knew what._ He sighed as he set his head down; it had been nearly three months since he woke up, _naked_ , in that old courtyard. While wandering around to find something to cover up, he bumped into Isingoma.

* * *

_The red haired boy tried to stay in the shadows the best he could. In his current state he was very confused, he had woken up without any memories and he was naked!_ Was I drugged or something?!

_All he had was a name, Sprx._ I guess that must be my nickname or something.

_At the moment he was just glad he had woken up somewhere without people. He wanted to get something to cover up, before he ran into anybody. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case._

" _Hey, you!"_

_Sprx turned around at the sound of the voice and saw that a man was quickly approaching. Although it was dark, Sprx could make out the man's clothing, which in turn meant that the man could see Sprx's lack of clothing._

" _Boy, why in the hell are you walking around naked in the middle of a park at three in the morning?"_

_Sprx was ashamed as he tried to cover up what he could._ Should I answer him, or should I run?

_After several seconds of awkward silence the man sighed. "Boy, what's your name?"_

_Sprx mumbled. "Mn don ow"_

_The man raised an eyebrow. "What?"_

" _I said I don't know!" Sprx yelled. The man took a cautious step back. "I don't know okay...I can't remember anything."_

_The man approached, at first mouthing words, but then finding his voice. "Nothing? You're sure?"_

_Sprx shrugged. "Sprx, for some reason I remember that word. I think it might be my nickname or something."_

_The man smiled. "Well 'Sprx', my name is Isingoma. Why don't you come with me and we'll get you some clothes?"_

_Sprx thought this over for a second before nodding. "But if you try anything funny, I'll kick your ass."_

_Isingoma laughed. "Sure you will."_

* * *

As Sprx tried to fall asleep he reminisced over meeting Saada and Imani, her mother, and how it only took nine minutes for a fight to break out between him and the girl. _Say what you like about her, she has a mean right hook._

Although Saada constantly seemed to grate on him and visa versa, he found being around her to be strangely comforting. She and Isingoma, at times, seemed to remind him of something from his past. But why couldn't he remember what?!

Sprx only groaned into his pillow. _Tonight's going to be one of those nights._

* * *

As the three made their way through the city, Chiro was dismayed to find that the conditions didn't improve much as they made their way further from the ports. In fact it got worse. At least the ports had electricity. The area they were trekking through lacked it, and was made up of dilapidated buildings that looked as if they would collapse any moment. Despite this, they all appeared to be occupied.

Otto noticed Chiro's expression. "Well at least the air's better, right?" This was true, although it wasn't exactly fresh air, it was far better than the smog at the docks.

"Do not worry Chiro," said Antauri. "This is the worst part of the city - the slums - and we have yet to reach our team member, despite the fact that we have been through nearly all of it. They must be located in a better part of the city."

Chiro cast a forlorn look at the buildings. "It's not that Antauri. _No one_ should have to live like this."

"I know Chiro, but not all planets are as lucky as Shuggazoom. Come now, it will be best if we can locate our team mate before the sun rises."

"Yeah."

Chiro followed Antauri, with Otto walking besides the teenage boy. Despite his best attempts to hide it and keep up his positive demeanor, it was obvious Otto was just as depressed as Chiro was. If not, more so

"Otto?" Chiro asked

"I just wish we could help them." He whispered as they passed the remains of a burned down shop.

"Yeah…me too."

* * *

**Location:** Seoul, South Korea

**Time:** 7:30 UTC+9

Hyun Jae was starting to empathize with the police officers she had yelled about a week ago. After several days of fruitless searching, she had finally broken down and gone for help.

Specifically, to one boy she had never wanted to speak to again.

"I need your help Jin-Sang."

The pale, skinny boy looked up from his doodles. It was the middle of July and their summer vacation started tomorrow, thus their teacher had let them have the last day to do what they pleased. It was considered unusual, but their teacher normally was.

"What Hyun Jae?" Jin-Sang hadn't called her Gandhi ever since she threw the pen at him. Although she liked to think that she had scared him, it was likely just him trying to be respectful about the disappearance of Antauri.

"I said I need your help."

He raised an eyebrow. "And I should help you _because_ …?"

_Apparently nicknames are where his respect stops._ "Aren't you going to ask what I want help with?"

He smiled slyly. "I like to know why I should even listen to you in the first place. These are _very_ important doodles you know. Now, give me one good reason why I should help you out."

Hyun Jae stared angrily. _So I don't strangle you to death, you ass._ She breathed in and composed herself. _No Jae, you're better than that._

"Because you're the best hacker in school, and everyone knows it."

Jin-Sang grinned. This was the reality of it all. It was even rumored that he had been involved in the attacks on the U.S. and South Korean sites a few months ago. It wasn't true, but hey, who was he to stop it?

"So it's a computer problem huh?" He closed his eyes and waved her off. "Well I'm not going to lower myself to fixing your computer for you, that's what those hotlines are for."

Hyun Jae slammed her hands down on the desk. "Damnit I'm not asking you to fix my computer!" She suddenly realized everyone was staring at her. Luckily their teacher wasn't in the room at the moment.

Slowly everyone returned to what they had been doing. She sighed and leaned in closer to whisper. "I need your help finding Antauri."

Jin-Sang's face went from a smirk to confusion. "Huh?"

"Look, so far the police haven't found anything and neither have I. I figure you're my best bet."

" _How_ exactly?"

Hyun Jae rummaged through her pockets. "I want you to do a search for…" She pulled out two pieces of paper. "These two."

Jin-Sang looked down at the papers. One was a photo of Antauri. The other was, from the looks of it, a police sketch of a teenage boy.

Hyun Jae pointed at the second photo. "His name is Chiro, and he left with Antauri." She slid the pieces forward. "I want you to search through everything you can find. Hell, I don't care if you have to hack into the CIA!"

Jin-Sang slid the pieces back to Hyun Jae. "First of all, what you're proposing is ridiculous. Secondly, why should I do this in the first place; I barely know you."

Hyun Jae sighed and pulled an envelope out from her other pocket. "Because, as a starting fee alone, I'll pay you ₩200,000."

Jin-Sang's jaw dropped for a few seconds before he collected himself. He smiled. "Well then, we better get started on finding your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

* * *

  
**Location:** Maputo, Mozambique

"So this is it?"

"Yes, Otto, I am positive."

After about two hours of walking the group had encountered a brick building, which Antauri was certain contained their teammate.

Chiro examined the building and sighed in relief. _It might not be as good as where Antauri or Otto were staying, but at least it has electricity._

"What now?" Chiro asked

Antauri thought for a moment. "I am tempted to say that we should go get them now, but it's too risky. If it is Sprx or Nova, they might cause a commotion and attract unwanted attention."

Otto joined in. "So…we should find out who it first."

"That is correct," nodded Antauri. we will do it first thing in the morning."

"What?!" Chiro exclaimed. "We have to get this done right away!"

Antauri looked the boy directly in the face. "Chiro, you have been walking slower and slower for the last hour, and you have dark circles under your eyes that would make Valina jealous. You need sleep."

Otto stretched and yawned. "To be honest, I'm pretty tired myself."

"Chiro take out your sleeping bag," directed Antauri. "You and Otto can share it as a cushion. It is warm enough to not need it as cover. I will take watch."

"But Antauri-"

Antauri stopped him. "Chiro, our teammate has lasted three months here. They can wait one more night. Now, you need your sleep."

Chiro sighed and took out his sleeping bag from his pack. "Alright, alright."

"Good night you two, I will wake you in the morning."

* * *

**Location:** Seoul, South Korea

Hyun Jae peaked around a corner. "I can't believe we're doing this."

Jin-Sang casually walked around the corner. "Relax, no one's going to care. It's the last day before vacation."

"Couldn't you just have waited until school was over?"

"What? It wasn't like we were doing anything." He smiled. "Besides I thought you wanted to find _Antauri._ " He made smooching noises.

Hyun Jae got up in his face. "Shut it, or I'll kick you so hard, your nuts will shoot out of your ears."

Jin-Sang backed up. "Oooh, someone's getting testy."

"Look, I'm just sick of everyone assuming we're a couple okay. He's my friend, _that's_ _all_."

He smirked, opening the exit door. "Sure, whatever. Let's just get back to my place so I can set this thing up."

Hyun Jae caught the door. _So much for chivalry._ "So how long will it take, a couple hours?"

Jin-Sang turned around and frowned. "Hours?! This isn't the movies you know, the sort of program you're talking about takes days to build and run."

" _Days?_ "

"Yeah, you should just be glad I'm good." He smiled. "For most people it would take a month."

"But…but… _days!?_ "

"Yup!" He turned around and began to walk off the school lot. "Hope you don't mind sleeping over!"

Hyun Jae held her face in her hands. _Why me?_


	9. Bicho de Sete Cabeças

  
**TIME:** 8:00 UTC +2

**LOCATION:** Maputo, Mozambique

"Chiro."

"Mmn…" the teenage boy mumbled.

"Chiro, it is time to wake up."

Chiro slowly sat up and rubbed the drowsiness out of his eyes, yawning. "Antauri?"

"Good morning, Chiro."

"What time is it?"

"My internal clock says it's been approximately seven hours."

Otto rolled over on the sleeping bag, moaning. "Seven? It feels like two."

"C'mon Otto," Chiro began to roll up the sleeping bag. "We gotta get up."

Otto lifted himself up. "Okay." He stretched. "So, how should we start this?"

"I spent most of the night thinking about it, and I have settled on this plan," Antauri looked over at the emerald monkey. "Otto, you and I will sneak into the building and perform reconnaissance. If the teammate in there is Gibson, we will confront him when he is alone. If it is Nova or Sprx, however, that is where you will come in Chiro." He shifted his gaze over to the 14-year-old at this point. "You will stand outside in case our teammate exits the building. If it is Gibson before Otto or I have been able to confront him, you will quickly isolate him. However, if it is either Sprx or Nova, you will contact us first and follow from a distance."

Chiro tilted his head. "Why?"

"Because if Sprx and Nova have formed friendships with anyone, they are likely to react violently when they are first told that they will have to abandon them," explained Antauri.

Chiro soon recognized both the sad tone of Antauri's voice and the expression on both his and Otto's faces. "Oh… all right." He tried to smile despite his friend's depression.

Antauri smiled sadly as he and Otto made their way off. "Thank you, Chiro."

* * *

Sprx meanwhile was already awake, and in the process of sneaking out to escape his chores. Stupid, but he just hated being cooped up in this place. Now all he had to do was climb out the back windo-

"GAH!" he exclaimed as he was violently yanked back by the collar of his shirt.

He hit the floor and opened his eyes. Standing above him was a very pissed Saada. Either that or she was constipated, hard to tell from this angle. But Sprx was going to go with pissed.

After several seconds of silence, Saada decided to break it. "Well?"

"'Well' what?" Sprx asked as he righted himself.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

"There's nothing to say. I tried to sneak out and you tried to stop me."

She crossed her arms. "You know what I mean."

"Any reason you've decided to impersonate your dad this morning?" sighed Sprx.

"Sprx, you know we're worrying about you and you still keep on doing this crap! Why? Why can't you just stay and do your chores like you're supposed to?"

Sprx diverted his gaze. "I know okay, and I will."

Saada sighed. "Thank y-"

"First thing tomorrow!" Sprx exclaimed, and with that he leapt out the window.

Saada's jaw dropped with shock, at which point she ran to the window and stuck her head out to see Sprx sprinting away. His mad laughter could be heard from a long way's off.

"Sprx you bastard get back here!" She quickly shuffled out the window to take pursuit.

Isingoma only watched from the end of the hall and sighed. "Children."

* * *

Chiro squirmed as he hid in the shadow of the building. _I really hope its Gibson_.

Not that he favored Gibson over Sprx or Nova, it's just that he knew Antauri was right about them taking longer. He wanted to leave this city as fast as he could.

The place… _disturbed_ him. The city gave off a feeling that it was dying at its core, not entirely unlike the feeling he got when the team stumbled upon a place ravaged by the Skeleton King.

Suddenly a boy whipped around a corner and sprinted past the hidden Chiro. Chiro noticed something off about the boy. Despite his dark skin color, he had red hair. He also seemed strangely familiar, _Was that…?_

Chiro had his question answered when a girl came around the corner, running after the boy. "Sprx, get back here or I'll kill you!"

_Well that answers that question._

Now what was he supposed to do?! How was he supposed to tell Otto and Antauri? Did Antauri forget that they didn't have their communicators?

Then Chiro heard something above him. He looked up to one of the windows of the building. It was Otto, waving happily down at him.

Chiro sighed in relief. _I never thought I'd say this, but thank Shuggazoom for Otto's lack of subtlety._ He waved at Otto to open the window.

"Hey Chiro!" Otto whispered so loudly that the act became redundant. "What is it?"

"It's Sprx, he just ran by!"

Otto tilted his head in confusion. "Really?"

"A girl was chasing after him, yelling his name."

"That's definitely Sprx," Otto giggled. "I'll go get Antauri."

Chiro waited a few minutes before both of the monkeys exited the window and descended to the ground. Fortunately, the side street was relatively unused at this time of day. Besides Sprx and the girl chasing after him, no one else but them had even set a foot on it this morning.

"Are you certain, Chiro?" inquired Antauri.

Chiro nodded. "It was Sprx, Antauri! The girl chasing after him even yelled his name."

"…Just like him…" Antauri muttered. But he then frowned and sighed. "This will complicate things. We have to find a way to separate Sprx from the girl, and I doubt we will have the same luck that we had with you, Otto."

Otto squirmed at the memory.

"Well there's no use sitting here," Chiro changed the subject. "We have to find them first before we even try to get the two of them apart."

"You are correct Chiro. We should get going."

* * *

_Finally, I lost her!_ Sprx smiled as he bent over to catch his breath.

It had taken him several minutes of weaving in and out of alleys to finally shake off Saada, but he had gotten her off of his tail. For the time being

 _Just in time too, it's gonna start in a few minutes._ He made his way down the alley into the sunlight…and smacked straight into Saada.

"What?!" He exclaimed as he panicked. "But how?! When?!"

Saada smirked. "You've learned your way around well the last three months, but you still don't know all the shortcuts."

"Yeah well so what?!" snapped Sprx. "It doesn't matter! You can't exactly drag me back there, ya' know."

"I know."

"You do?" Sprx said. "Then why'd you follow me?"

Saada smiled slightly and shrugged. "I just… wanted to know where you went every day."

"But you always find me and drag me back to the orphanage every evening."

"Yeah, but that's only the evening, I didn't know what you did during the day." She sniffed. "But really…the airport? This is where you go everyday?"

"Yeah well, I like it, okay?" Sprx walked over to the wire fence of the airport.

"You're not going to climb that are you?"

Sprx scoffed. "I'm not an idiot, I'm just getting a closer look."

Saada leaned against the fence. "So is this what you really do all day?"

"Normally I only watch for a little bit, but today's special."

"Why today?" Suddenly Saada heard a loud roaring sound.

Sprx pointed towards the source of the sound. " _That's_ why."

"That plane is gigantic!" Saada gasped.

Sprx smiled. "It's called an Airbus A380, the biggest airliner in the world. This is probably the only time this airport is going to see one anytime soon, they're usually only used in Europe and East Asia."

"Who are you and what have you done with Sprx?"

"I like planes!"

She looked at him quizzically for a few moments, during which Sprx returned his attention to the plane. "Is that what you wanna be? A pilot?"

"Well, I'd like to be a fighter pilot more than anything," Sprx admitted. "But that's basically suicide in this country, so I'll settle for a regular pilot."

"A fighter pilot?!" She asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I feel that's what I'm meant for, but like I said, I'll settle for a regular pilot as long as I get to fly."

Saada shook her head. "You are a very weird boy."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I barely know anything about you. My father brings you home one night naked, and ever since then you run off every day and I have to drag you back every night."

Sprx sighed. "Look I know it's just… I don't feel like I belong there, I should be somewhere else."

"Of course you don't feel like you belong there, it's an orphanage!"

"I know that but…" The boy leaned against the fence. "It just feels all wrong."

Saada put a comforting hand on Sprx's shoulder, which he shrugged off. She sighed at this. "Why can't you just let me help you."

"Because it's wrong okay, it's all fucked up! I mean you…you're…" He slowly trailed off. "A – and at the same time you're… not."

"I'm not what?"

"I don't know okay! Just leave me the hell alone." And with that, Sprx stormed off.


	10. Macacos me Mordam

**LOCATION:** Maputo, Mozambique

"Stop it!"

Saada stopped and crossed her arms. "Stop what?"

Sprx whipped around to face her. "You know what! Stop following me!"

"No."

"Why not?!"

"Because I want to help you," Saada sighed.

"I don't need any of your god damned help!"

"Sprx, something is obviously wrong, you need help!"

Sprx rolled his eyes. "Oh, for - I _don't_ _need_ any help. All I need is for you to get off my fucking back!" He turned around and began to walk away.

"Why?"

Sprx turned around. "Huh?" Then he saw the look on Saada's face. It could only be described as tortured.

"Why do you always do this?! Every time I try to be a decent person with you, you push me away or make a stupid joke." She laughed ironically. "Do you hate me? Is that it? Because if so, I'd like to know why."

Sprx jumped. "I don't hate you. I just…I don't know okay; everything's… it all…" he yelled suddenly. "IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" He kicked a trash can so hard it dented.

He panted from releasing his frustration.

"Feel any better?" Saada asked.

Sprx glared at her. "Not really."

Saada smiled mockingly. "Are you going to cry now?"

"No, I – Oh, shut up!"

Saada snickered. "Come on, let's head back for lunch."

"But what about the whole…?" he trailed off, still uncomfortable about the subject.

"We can just um…talk about it some other time." Saada apparently was too.

There was a few seconds of awkward silence.

"So, what's there for lunch?" asked Sprx.

"Why don't we head back and find out?" smirked Saada.

Sprx smiled. _And the whole time she didn't even call me-_

"Come on, Sparky!"

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!"

* * *

Otto sighed in relief. Fortunately, Sprx had decided to kick the other trash can, not his. He had to admit that this was probably not the best hiding spot, but he was sick of slinking around the dark alleyways. _After all, variety is the spice of life, right?_

Although it was muffled from inside the can, Otto could pick out parts of the conversation between Sprx and his new friend. It seemed that Sprx wasn't too close to this 'Saada' girl, which Otto had mixed feelings over.

On one hand it meant that they would probably have an easier time getting Sprx to come with them. But on the other, Otto was sad that Sprx had spent all this time with virtually no one. He had a hard enough time with Ally and Jeff for company. ( _I hope they're okay.)_ He couldn't imagine being all by himself.

He shook his head. He had to focus on getting Sprx and the girl apart. _Why did they have to give me this job?_ He really didn't want to be the one responsible for splitting up the two, but he knew it had to be done.

He sighed sadly as he slowly lifted the lid and climbed out of the garbage can. _I'm sorry, Sprx._

* * *

 

Sprx whirled around as he heard metallic shuffling behind them. "What was that?"

"What?" Saada also stopped and turn around.

"Didn't you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what? The trash cans?"

"You did hear it!"

She sighed. "Yes Sprx, I did hear it, now calm down for god's sake."

He frowned but didn't lose his tension. "Why aren't you more worried?"

"Sprx it's the middle of the day time, there are two of us, and this is one of the better parts of town," she turned and resumed walking. "No one's going to attack us when there are plenty of other more vulnerable targets for mugging. Besides, you and I both know that there are more stray animals then there are people in this city; it was probably one of them. Nothing to worry about."

Sprx slowly turned around, not completely satisfied, but better than before. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"You honestly need to relax." Saada looked down and stopped. "Wait, my shoe's untied." She placed her hand on the edge of a garbage can for support as she bent down. "OW!" Saada abruptly sprang away from the garbage can, glaring at it in pure shock.

"What?!"

Saada cradled her hand. "Something bit me!"

He turned towards the alley as he heard cans being knocked over and some hissing, as whatever bit Saada ran away. "Nothing to worry about huh?! You go back to the orphanage and get that patched up." He began running down the alleyway.

"Where are you going?!"

Sprx knocked a can out of the way. "To get that thing that bit you! You know, in case of rabies."

"But Sprx!" she called out, but she was too late. Sprx was already out of sight. She looked down at her hand, "It didn't even break the skin you idiot." She looked back up at the alley. "Damnit Sprx." She began running, hoping to catch up to the boy before he got in trouble.

* * *

Otto gasped for breath as he ran down the alleyway in an attempt to escape. _Oh, why did I have to step on that kitty's tail!_ It's not like he meant too; it was dark in the alley and the cat was black. But it happened, and the sleeping cat leapt up and bit the closest thing to its mouth. In this case, the hand of Sprx's friend.

Fortunately for him, his agility and smaller size made it easy for him to dash through the debris filled alley. Unfortunately, the alley he had just turned down ended in a large brick wall.

"Uh oh," Otto mumbled. _Think fast._

He could hear Sprx closing in behind him.

_Oh no, I have to get him to Antauri and Chiro! He can't catch me yet!_ He glanced around for a hiding spot. None. He looked back and realized that if he tried to go back now, there was a good chance Sprx would spot him.

He looked forward and gulped.

_That wall's pretty high._ Although he was probably the best climber on the team, from here he could tell that the wall was falling apart. This meant there were plenty of places to grip, but it also meant at any time, a part could simply crumble away.

Otto looked back one more time and heard the rapidly approaching red-head.

_Well, here goes nothing._

He quickly made it to the wall and began scaling the stone structure. Several times a brick nearly gave out or came loose, but he finally made it to the top.

"Whew." As if on cue the brick Otto was standing on crumbled. He tried to make a grab for the wall but he reached out to find only air. He hit the ground along with the pieces of brick. He moaned softly in pain.

A tall figure came dashing around the corner, upon seeing the tall wall he grinned, "No way you're getting away."

Otto could hear him run towards the wall and began looking around.

"Now where are you, you… whatever you are." Sprx rounded the corner. Otto kept his breathing steady, hoping that Sprx would give up and look away. Then the human Sprx spotted the small pile of rubble. "What the…?"

Otto burst out of the pile and tried to make it past Sprx, but the red-head was able to dive and tackle the green monkey.

"Hold still you stupid thing, so I can…" He trailed off as he began to get a good look at Otto. "Wha… What in the fuck are you?"

Due to his shock, Otto was able to squirm out of Sprx's grasp. Sprx tried to grab the green monkey, but Otto eluded him. "Get back here!"

Otto slowed to a stop and looked back at Sprx and smiled, "Let's play tag Sprx." With this he dashed off.

Sprx remained on the ground for a few moments; jaw dropped in a state of stupefaction, before he quickly shot up and gave pursuit.

* * *

  
**LOCATION:** Seoul, South Korea

Hyun Jae felt like murdering someone, specifically the boy whose room she was currently located in.

For the last twelve or so hours, (she had lost track at about 6) she had been helping Jin-Sang develop his program to find Antauri.

Unfortunately for her, her minimal experience with computers ensured that any 'help' she provided involved getting the computer bound 17-year-old food and drinks, and cleaning up after him.

In other words, _HE'S MADE ME A FUCKING MAID!_

Hyun Jae swore that the next time the bastard asked her to clean something up, she would bash his head in with his keyboard.

As if he had read her thoughts and dared her, Jin-Sang spilled his soda onto the floor. "Whoops. Hey Gandhi, could you get that?"

She repressed her desire to murder and merely glared at Jin-Sang, "Are you doing this on purpose?"

Jin-Sang glanced back. "Doing what on purpose?"

Hyun Jae pointed down at the spilled drink. "Since I've come here, you have spilled five drinks, seven snacks, and created eleven other miscellaneous messes. You have made me clean all of them up. Are you doing it on purpose to torture me?"

"Wow, you sure it's that many? I can only remember like three or four messes at most," he laughed. "It's not on purpose though, it's sort of who I am; I tend to be a real slob."

Hyun Jae looked around the room, from the organized stack of books sitting on his desk, to his neatly made bed. She had a hard time accepting what Jin-Sang had claimed. _This place is near pristine._

The teen noticed what Hyun Jae was doing, "Oh this isn't my room, this isn't even my apartment. I'm house-sitting for my friend, his family left a day early for the summer break."

"Well you're doing a pretty crappy job of keeping this place clean."

"Yeah well… seeing as I'm helping you find your mysterious boyfriend-"

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"

"Right, mysterious friend who just happens to be a boy. Anyway, I figure the least you can do for me is keep the place clean."

Hyun Jae was dumbfounded, "I'm already paying you!"

"I know, so I'll let you deduct 5% from my final pay in return."

Hyun Jae groaned. "Fine, whatever; just stop being such a slob."

Jin-Sang merely 'hmm'ed in compliance. A few seconds later he spoke up again. "What the?" He waved over to the 18-year-old girl. "Hey Hyun Jae, come look at this."

Hyun Jae came over to the monitor. "I'm pretty sure I found a picture of that kid you described."

She looked at the screen, where a zoomed in picture from a surveillance camera displayed a young boy in his early teens. Dressed in what appeared to be a school uniform. "That's definitely him. What time was this taken at?"

"Just about midnight."

She nodded. "That's only a little bit after Antauri disappeared."

"Okay, but here's what I wanted to ask you about." He pointed to a part of the picture that was directly in front of 'Chiro' ( _Is that even his real name?_ ) who was headed into an alleyway in the frame. "Do you have any idea what that is?"

Right in front of the boy was a curved… thing, that was metallic in color. "It looks like a tail made of metal."

"Or a snake," he smirked. "Maybe this kid is a spy for Hideo Kojima."

" _Excuse_ _me?"_

Jin-Sang glanced at her. "Metal? Snake? Any of this ringing a bell?"

Hyun Jae shook her head, Jin-Sang snorted. "That's just sad." He went back to his work, shaking his head in apparent disappointment.

Hyun Jae went and sat on the bed. _What the hell am I dealing with?_

* * *

_What the hell am I dealing with?_ Sprx thought as he dashed after the green, robotic, TALKING, monkey! _This is fucking insane._

The damn thing even knew his name… a-and he swore that he knew the monkey too, somehow.

_I have to catch it! It knows something about me!_

"Get back here you little freak!" The monkey glanced back with a look on his face that suggested he was enjoying this greatly.

"You'll have to catch me Sprx!" he laughed.

_How do I know you? And why does this seem so familiar?_

Suddenly a thought flashed through his head. _Get back here Otto!_

_Otto?_

When he focused on the green monkey, who had just knocked a trash can into his path, the name seemed to stick.

"Get back here, Otto!"

The monkey nearly froze when he heard this, but instead looked back with a look of shock on his face. He smiled even wider than before.

"Sorry Sprx, but that's not how tag works!"

_Fine Otto, I'll play your game. But then you better tell me everything you know about me._


	11. Ficar a ver Navios

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Craaaaaaaaaaaap there's a whole mess of POV jumping around in this chapter, ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Writing is hard.

**LOCATION:** Maputo, Mozambique

"Sprx!"

Silence.

"Sprx!" _Where is that idiot?_

Saada had been looking for the past 20 minutes for her moronic friend who had gone off and chased after some animal that had bitten her. _It didn't even break the damn skin!_

Yet off Sprx went, before she could even say a word; saying he had to make sure the thing didn't have rabies. _Even if it did bite me, it's not like there are any vets around here!_

"Sprx, where the hell are you?!" Some shuffling from a nearby alley was the only answer.

Saada swung around. _Relax, it's probably just another animal._ She glanced down to her hand. _Of course, look where that reasoning has gotten me so far._

Saada looked around for something to defend herself with. All she was able to find on the ground was a short metal bar, broken off from whatever it was once attached to.

She raised the bar above her head as she rounded the corner. Upon doing so, she saw a boy at the other end of the alleyway, facing the other way, apparently unaware of her presence. He appeared to be waiting to cross the street. She ran towards him before he could.

"Hey!"

The boy turned around. Saada saw that, surprisingly, he was white; a rare sight in this city, and possessed black hair and blue eyes. She estimated him to be a few years younger than her.

"Um, hi."

"Hello, my name is Saada. You wouldn't have happened to have seen a boy of my age, same skin color, but with red hair."

"Um, no, sorry, haven't seen anyone like that." The boy seemed very nervous. Saada wanted to question him more when he glanced over his back.

Saada looked up to see that traffic had crawled to a stop, allowing people to walk across the street. "Well I better get going then!" The boy dashed across the street, weaving around the cars.

 _Okay, something was definitely up with him._ She sighed. _I don't have time to worry about that now. I have to find Sprx._

* * *

_Okay, that was too close._

Chiro quickly circled around to follow the girl again, as he had been doing. The three had agreed that it would be his job to separate 'Saada' from Sprx, while Otto lured Sprx to Antauri.

Since they had already been separated, it was now Chiro's job to _keep_ them separated. And of course, Chiro had to remain relatively inconspicuous. Not that the girl seemed to be making this easy for him.

She was unusually aware of her surroundings, and had an uncanny knack for going in the wrong direction. _Well I guess for her it's the right direction, seeing as she's trying to_ find _Sprx._

He sighed as he began following her again. Hopefully this time he wouldn't get caught. _I really hope Otto and Antauri hurry up._

* * *

"Ahhh!" Sprx flailed as he barely righted himself for what had to be the dozenth time so far.

Otto had decided to take more cluttered routes in order to give himself an advantage in the chase. What this meant for Sprx was constant annoyance and near impalement at one point, when he just missed a stray pipe sticking out of the ground.

_When I catch you Otto I'm going to beat the crap out of you!_

The green monkey in question had been able to gain considerable distance from Sprx, yet he seemed to have slowed down. He kept glancing back too, almost as if… _Wait! Is he slowing down for_ me _! Okay now I'm pissed, you little-_

Unfortunately, in his rage, Sprx forgot where he was. Namely, in a dark alley filled with lots of objects to trip over.

"AH!" Sprx reached out to grab onto something but only found air. This was particularly bad for his skull, the back of which met the very hard side of a brick building a tenth of a second later.

"Huh?" Otto looked back upon hearing the yell. "Sprx?"

The green monkey scanned the alley for the teen. Otto smiled, "Sprx if you're trying to trick me by hiding, it's not going to work." After several seconds of silence Otto frowned, "I mean it!"

Several more seconds passed, "Sprx?!" Otto was now worried enough to actually venture back into the alley.

It only took a few seconds for Otto to find Sprx lying on the ground, unconscious. "Uh oh."

Otto looked around in a panic. "Ohhhh… How am I supposed to get you to Antauri now?"

It was then that Otto spotted something amongst the garbage. It was covered in all sorts of trash, but it appeared to be an old shopping cart.

Otto looked at the cart, then at Sprx's prone figure, then back to the cart. "Hmm."

* * *

Antauri opened his eyes. He had been meditating while waiting for Otto to come back with Sprx, yet something suddenly seemed off. He could sense when his teammates were in trouble due to his connection with the Power Primate. (Chiro should too in theory, but so far he had shown little development in that area.)

While he wasn't exactly feeling this right now, it was a very similar sensation. _What could have happened?_

As if someone was listening, Antauri suddenly heard what could best be described as a squeaking noise. And it was getting closer.

The monkey quickly got up and climbed onto a rusty and dilapidated fire escape for a better view. _Where do I know that noise?_ It seemed vaguely familiar to him but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Slowly, the answer to his question came into view. It was a shopping cart. This in itself wasn't entirely shocking. What was, however, was that Otto was pushing the cart which appeared to have an unconscious body inside of it.

Antauri scurried down to the ground. " _Otto_ ," he asked immediately. "Who is that, and why are they unconscious and inside of a shopping cart?"

Upon seeing him, Otto visibly squirmed under Antauri's glare. "Um, it's Sprx, BUT IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" He quickly added, followed by a deep breath. "Sprx started chasing me and I guess he tripped or something cause I turned around and I found him like that!" He quickly spurted out, still terrified.

Antauri sighed, obviously annoyed, yet more at the entire situation than at Otto himself. "Just help me get him out of the shopping cart."

Otto nodded, just glad Antauri wasn't mad at him anymore. The two slowly lifted the young man out of the kart, careful not to hurt him any further.

"Now gently Otto."

Otto nodded as they let Sprx down onto the ground. "Sprx – heh - he's gained some weight, huh?" he joked.

Antauri smirked. "Yes, I suppose he has." The two backed up from the prone figure.

Otto looked over at Antauri. "So… Should I go get Chiro or somethin'?"

"No," Antauri answered. "I might need your help with Sprx, then we will get Chiro."

"Okay…" The green monkey replied with apprehension.

Antauri bent down and placed his hands above Sprx's chest and gained a look of concentration while Otto looked on.

"What's supposed -" Otto was cut off as Antauri's hands began to glow, followed by Sprx's body. "Wooowww."

As the glow faded away, the rather large young man was replaced by a familiar red robotic monkey.

Otto smiled and clapped his hands. "Sprx is back!"

Antauri stood back from the still unconscious monkey and nodded. "Indeed he is Otto, now we just need to wait."

As if on queue, Sprx began to wake up at that time. "Mhn…" The monkey slowly sat up, still disoriented.

Otto bent down to help Sprx up. "C'mon Sprx let me help you."

Sprx looked up with glazed eyes. "Otto?"

He laughed. "Who else?"

Otto and Antauri were both shocked when Sprx suddenly lunged forward, tackling Otto.

Sprx held the green monkey down and began to yell. "I caught you, you little bastard! Now tell me everything you…" Sprx slowly stopped as he seemed to notice something.

He slowly held his hands up to his face, a look of horror spreading across his face that only grew when he looked down at his body. "Wha-wha…" he looked back at Otto.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?!"

Sprx grabbed Otto and began to thrash him about, but Antauri was quick to act, getting behind Sprx and knocking him down. "Sprx stop it now!"

Sprx attempted to get back up, but as soon as he looked at Antauri, a crippling headache struck him. "Ah!" He held his head. "Who are you bastards?"

"Sprx, please you have to think for a second!" said Antauri.

Sprx slowly opened his eyes, the pain apparently dissipating. "Antauri?"

Otto and the silver monkey in question both sighed in relief. "Yes Sprx, do you remember now?"

Sprx nodded as he slowly got up. "Where's everyone else?"

Otto fidgeted nervously. "Well…"

"We have yet to locate them." Antauri said frankly.

"You mean I wasn't the only one who…Ugh, what happened again? Everything's still all…" Sprx trailed off, rubbing his temples. "My head's killing me."

Otto answered. "Well, one of Valina's spells went all freaky and turned us into humans and transported us to this planet."

Sprx snorted. "Turned us into humans? You really think I would remember something like-" His eyes shot open. "Oh my god Saada!"

"Who's Saada?" Otto asked.

"She's this girl, she's my friend, I guess. She's probably still out looking for me. Oh man, she's gonna kill me!"

"Sprx!" Antauri shouted. "Think about what you just said."

Sprx did so, and a look of realization came across his face. "I'm not even gonna be able to say good-bye am I?" he whispered.

Antauri shook his head sadly. _No._

"GOD DAMN IT!" Sprx shouted.

Otto slowly came over to Sprx. "Does she really mean that much to you Sprx?"

"No. It's just…" He sighed, "She deserves better for putting up with all my shit." He closed his eyes and collected himself. "So when are we going to head out?"

"As soon as we can Sprx." Antauri looked over at Otto. "You should go get Chiro, Otto."

Otto nodded and ran off.

"So the kid's here huh?"

Antauri nodded. "Yes, Chiro wasn't affected by Valina's spell. He located me a little less than a month ago."

"So where are we going next?"

"We will have to wait for Chiro to get back in order to answer that question."

Sprx nodded and turned around towards the exit of the alley, waiting for Otto to get back with Chiro. _Sorry Saada._

* * *

**1 Hour Later**

"Father, Mother, I'm back!"

Isingoma looked up from the mail he was sorting through to see his daughter closing the front door behind her. "Oh, hello, Saada, did you catch Sprx?"

Saada gained a curious look. "You mean he didn't come back yet?"

"Was he supposed to?"

She sighed. "No, not really, just tell me when you see him, okay?"

Isingoma smiled. "Sure thing, why don't you go help your mother with dinner, alright?"

Saada nodded. "Thanks father." As she made her way into the kitchen she shook her head. _Sprx, I'm going to murder you when you get back._


	12. Dar o Troco

  
**TIME:** 13 Days Later, 5:00 UTC-3  
 **LOCATION:** Approx. 2 Miles out from Santos, Brazil

"Look I don't care how hard it is to sneak aboard a plane. We are not going by boat again!"

Chiro swiped at a low hanging branch as he trudged through the undergrowth as the three climbed overhead. "Okay, okay, okay Sprx. For the millionth time we're sorry! Alright?!"

Otto leapt down from a tree limb down besides Chiro. "Yeah! How were we supposed to know you would get seasick?"

Sprx and Antauri climbed down from branches slightly higher up.

"Weren't you were afraid of the water anyway, kid?" Sprx questioned

"I got over it." Chiro grunted as he nearly tripped over a root. "Hey, Antauri, do you think we can use our jetpacks yet?"

Antauri shook his head. "Not yet Chiro, we are too close to the city. I can still hear the occasional car."

Chiro groaned. "This place is practically the Zone version 2.0! All it needs is some Formless and it'd be a perfect recreation."

"Hehe."

Sprx looked over at Otto. "It wasn't that funny."

"That wasn't me." Otto said in surprise. "I thought it was you."

Antauri was now on edge. "Then who -"

In response, a figure came streaking down through the branches.

Chiro was barely able to get out of the way of being struck, leaping away from now snickering figure. "Well, boy, I don't know about Formless, but I think I make a more than adequate substitution. Don't you?"

Their eyes widened in shock, "Mandarin!"

* * *

  
**TIME:** 17:00 UTC+9  
 **LOCATION:** Seoul, South Korea

"Ughhhhhhhhh…" Hyun Jae moaned in absolute boredom as she fell back onto the bed. "It's been two damn weeks!"

"I know!" Jin Sang responded bitterly from a computer desk littered with wrappers and energy drink cans. Hyun Jae had stopped cleaning about five days ago, figuring it would be better to just do it all in one at the very end.

"Are you sure you have nothing?"

"For the millionth time, yes!" he shouted. "And stop asking! I only expanded to an international search eight days ago."

Hyun Jae sat up. "How does this one work exactly?"

Jin Sang shock his head. "Didn't I tell you already?"

"I forgot. Humour me."

Jin Sang sighed. "I've created what's basically a customized search engine that searches for certain key terms and the like within a database. I've made it so that it only quickly skims a database so that it doesn't set off any defense programs or anything. If it finds a sufficient match, it flags that site for me so I can make a more in-depth and delicate hacking that this program would be incapable of."

"And you still haven't found anything?"

Jin Sang practically snarled at her question. _Does she have any idea how much effort and skill went into to making this in the first place!_ He quickly collected himself. "I found one match so far, but unless your boyfriend is actually a fictional character in Boston, you're out of luck."

Hyun Jae would have exploded if she had the energy, so she settled for a growl as she flopped back onto the bed. "He is not my boyfriend."

"Yeah, yeah whatever Miss. Chasti…"

Hyun Jae sat up. "What is it?"

"I think I found something."

Hyun Jae dashed over to the computer. "Where?"

"The program flagged a site from New Zealand," he laughed. "Oh, no way!"

"What?!"

"It's a police file, this might actually be something. Go get me a drink?"

Hyun Jae nodded, now wasn't the time to argue about being his maid.

* * *

 

**Back in Brazil…**

The monkeyesque creature that stood in front of the team had a twisted grin on his face. "Well, well, well. I knew it was only a matter of time that we would encounter each other again team. I never assumed that you would come to me however."

His grin turned into a scowl.

"Not that I blame you, I would do anything to get away from those humans. This planet is _infested_ with them."

"What do you want, Mandarin?!" Sprx yelled as he readied his weapons along with the rest of the team.

"Oh, Sprx, there's no need to act so hostile. We can work things out."

Chiro sneered. "Work things-?! Like what? Which limb you plan on tearing off first?"

Mandarin snickered. "Why of course not." With almost no warning Mandarin suddenly lunged for Chiro's neck. The teen barely rolled out of the way of the clone's massive pincer. "Why settle with limbs when I can have the head!"

Antauri responded by quickly getting behind Mandarin and swinging his Ghost Claws at the skeletal primate. Mandarin jumped out of the way, but soon found himself in another situation.

"Magna Tingler Blast!" Mandarin yelled as he was thrown back by Sprx's attack and into some nearby bushes.

Otto and Chiro quickly burst through the bushes in pursuit, but found nothing. Sprx and Antauri followed soon after.

"Chiro, Otto, do you have any idea where he went?"

The response to Antauri's question came in the form of a distant shout. "THIS ISN'T OVER! I'LL BE BACK FOR YOUR HEAD BOY!"

"What're we waiting for?! Let's go after him!"

Before Sprx could go anywhere, a silver hand grabbed his shoulder.

"No Sprx!" Antauri had a grim look on his face as he looked over the red monkey's shoulder at the dense foliage that Mandarin had retreated into. "He undoubtedly knows this territory better than us; trying to follow him is risky at best and suicide at worst."

"Bu-bu..." Sprx trailed off and sighed. "Fine, what do _you_ think we should do then?"

Antauri paused and considered the question for a second before coming with an answer. "I think we should continue our mission of locating Gibson and Nova, and ignore Mandarin for now."

"WHAT!?" Sprx exclaimed.

Otto was alarmed as well. "But what if he-!"

"Please!" Antauri interjected. "Allow me to explain. We all know Mandarin's hatred of humans is nearly all consuming, correct?"

All three nodded, Chiro especially so. "What's you're point?" The teen asked.

"Sooner or later, Mandarin will deduce that the only way you could have gotten here is by the Super Robot."

Sprx groaned. "Could you just spit it out already, you're starting to sound like Gibson."

Antauri smiled. "I suppose his absence has affected me, but never mind that; what I am saying is that the only way Mandarin has off Earth is the Super Robot, otherwise he would have left already."

Otto tilted his head. "So what you're saying is...we should _let_ him follow us?"

"Yes, that way when we confront him again we will be on equal territory, and hopefully with Nova and Gibson."

"That _sounds_ like a good idea, but what if he doesn't follow us?" pointed out Chiro. "Wouldn't we be leaving the people around here in danger?"

Antauri shook his head. "I doubt that he would stay, Chiro. And even if he does, I think Sprx and Otto will both agree with me when I say that the residents of this planet would easily be able to handle a threat such as an unarmed Mandarin."

Both of his fellow monkeys nodded.

"Trust me kid, this planet is probably better equipped to fight then any we've been to so far," added Sprx.

"If you say so." Chiro looked around and sighed. "So I guess we better find where to go next, huh?" Chiro rummaged around in his pack and pulled out the map, which by now had begun to fade and fray at the edges due to repeated use over the last month.

"Thank you Chiro." Antauri sat down next to the laid out map and concentrated. The glowing dot appeared a few seconds later.

"Well, what does it say?" Sprx asked.

Antauri opened his eyes and examined the map. "Well team, it seems our next destination is Denver."

Chiro quirked an eyebrow. "Denver?"

"Yes, it is a city in the United States."

"United States?"

Sprx scoffed. "Kid, honestly, haven't you learned anything about this planet? I mean I understood how you never heard of my piss-poor country, but seriously."

"The United States is probably the most influential country on Earth, although I do recall that China is gaining influence..." said Antauri.

As Antauri trailed off, Chiro looked over at Otto in confusion. The green monkey just smiled and shrugged. "I never paid any attention to politics."

Chiro sighed in defeat. "So how are we going to get to this Denver place?"

"We will have to get there by airplane Chiro," Antauri answered.

"What!? But-bu…Are you sure?" he asked, exasperated.

Antauri nodded. "Denver is very far inland, making a sea route impposible."

"Not to mention the fact that I'm never going on a boat ever again!" Sprx exclaimed.

Antauri smirked for a moment before continuing. "And a land based route would take far too long and would require multiple transfers undoubtedly." (1)

Chiro tried to think of a possible counterpoint, but he failed to come up with a reasonable one. "Fine, so how do we find an airplane?"

"Well that's easy kid, we just hitchhike to the closest airport," said Sprx.

"Umm...Won't someone freak out when you try and hop in the car?"

"Just get a truck. We'll hop in the back where no one will see us."

Chiro mulled this over. "Okay, I guess. But um..." the dark haired boy looked around the rainforest. "Where's the nearest road?"

* * *

 

**Meanwhile…**

"So you're positive?"

Jin Sang sat back in his chair with fresh drink in hand. "Yep, here check this picture, they caught it on a surveillance camera in the hospital this Otto kid disappeared from."

Hyun Jae gasped. "That's it, that's him!" The boy on the screen was definitely 'Chiro'.

"That's not all I found; the kid that disappeared? His case is almost identical to Antauri's: global amnesia, check; strange behavior, check; no known relatives or friends, check. I'm starting to think we're looking at a conspiracy or something."

"Conspiracy or not, I know what I'm doing next."

"What?"

"Off to New Zealand!" the young woman exclaimed, dramatically.

"Really!? Oh man that's awesome, I'll pack my bags!"

Hyun Jae laughed. "You?! Oh no, you have to stay behind and tell me if anything else develops."

Jin Sang shook his head in disbelief. "Wait, you mean you get to go on an international trip searching for your boyfriend, while I stay here and work as your personal desk jockey?"

Hyun Jae jabbed her finger at his chest. "First of all, he's _not_ my boyfriend." She withdrew her finger and smirked. "Secondly, yes, I need you to tell me if there are any developments." She gathered her bag and made her way to the door. "Now I'm off to get tickets and pack my bags, call my cell phone if you find anything. Take care!" She slammed the door behind her.

Jin Sang stared silently at the door for a few seconds. "Bitch."


	13. Transition

  
**TIME:** 8 Hours Later, 12:00 UTC-4  
 **LOCATION:** 12°N, 58°W 36,870 ft above Sea Level

Sprx shifted about as he tried to find a comfortable position. Of course, the inside of a small wooden box has very few available positions that one could consider _comfortable_.

Yes, they had _somehow_ been able to sneak aboard a cargo plane currently headed for Denver without being caught. _Either we were lucky as hell or_ _the security at that airport sucks!_

Of course thinking about airports brought him back to that topic which he had been trying to avoid like the plague.

 _Saada,_ Sprx sighed as he remembered the conversation they had. _Now she's probably worrying and blaming herself._

He supposed growing up as the only child with parents in an orphanage left her with severe guilt issues.

_I just hope she's okay._

Sprx was unaware that his teammates were thinking the exact same thing, only in Otto's case it was 'they' in place of 'her'.

Antauri was probably the most worried; he knew that Hyun Jae was slightly… _unpredictable_ and he had no idea which course of action she would take. However, he didn't even imagine that Hyun Jae would do what was actually occurring on the other side of the globe.

* * *

  
**TIME:** 01:00, UTC+9  
 **LOCATION:** Narita International Airport, Narita, Japan

Hyun Jae drowsily slouched in her seat. Her hard, uncomfortable, very _not_ first class seat, as she bitterly reminded apparently all the first class seats were reserved, and only a coach seat was open on such short notice.

Of course, it was only now that she was taking notice. For most of the flight she was trying not to have a mental breakdown. That sort of thing tended to happen when you go flying only a few months after your parents die in a horrific plane crash!

Hyun Jae shook her head, _Snap out of it! You're not even in the air anymore!_

The last fact resounded bitterly in Hyun Jae mind.

The plane had been scheduled for a stop in Narita to refuel, but now this half-hour stop was quickly turning into a three hour long torture session.

 _I am really starting to think that you're not worth it Antauri!_ Hyun Jae sighed, _Just relax, not too long from now you'll be in New Zealand and one step closer to rescuing Antauri from that weird kid._

Ironically, Hyun Jae wasn't the only one out on a misguided attempt to rescue a member of the monkey team.

* * *

  
**LOCATION:** Crab Nebula, approx. 6,500 light years from earth

_I'm coming Chiro._

Jinmay shifted in her seat trying to remain focused on the task at hand.

After about _a month_ of no contact from Chiro or any other monkey team member the pink haired android had begun to seriously worry. She was accustomed to long stretches of time when she didn't see Chiro, but he always sent a message assuring his safety at least once a week.

Now while she wasn't _supposed_ to leave the planet while the monkey team was gone unless it was an emergency, a) there hadn't been an attack on the planet since the team had left two months ago, and b) she was pretty sure this counted as an emergency!

So about one week ago she had activated the emergency tracker beacon she had placed on Chiro.

What? Okay, so that sounded slightly paranoid, but c'mon her boyfriend was a super hero who regularly was captured for crying out loud! Even Otto agreed when he helped designed the thing!

There was only one problem with the tracker. It only worked for about an hour after activated.

Jinmay was thus both surprised and very relieved to find that the tracker remained stationary the entire time active. (Well, relatively stationary, due to the immense proportions with which the tracker had to work with, the smallest difference it could measure from this distance was somewhere in the billions of miles.)

What shocked her even further was where Chiro was; on the other side of the galaxy! Chiro, for _some_ reason, was in a little explored, minor arm of the galaxy all the way on the opposite side of the galactic core. _Great._

So Jinmay took the most sensible course of action.

She got the fastest spaceship she could find (being the guardian of Shuggazoom meant a very large discount), and then set a course for the destination that was several thousands of light years away.

_Thank Shuggazoom for the warp drive._

From the looks of things, Chiro was located in a not too peculiar solar system. The computer said it was a single star, G2V, with several orbiting objects of various sizes.

It was one of these in particular that drew her attention. The third one from the star seemed to support life. Now she was coming into range of the planet and would soon begin her descent into the atmosphere.

 _I'm almo -_ CRASH

Jinmay's train of thought was cut off as something slammed into her ship at a high speed, sending it reeling.

_What was that?! An asteroid!_

No, Jinmay had in fact just destroyed the Optus D2 satellite, responsible for most satellite TV throughout Oceania. Not that she had any time to appreciate that as her ship hurdled down towards the planet.


	14. DIA

  
**TIME:** 6 Hours and 25 Minutes Later, 18:25 UTC-4  
 **LOCATION:** City Park, Denver, USA

A pale skinned, dark haired boy of 16 slouched in a booth seat in a small diner, repeatedly flipping open his cellphone for the time; glancing around occasionally.

_Where are they?_

About three seconds later, his question was answered when the door flew open, and in came running a laughing Hispanic girl who quickly made her way over to the table.

She was still giggling when she sat down, and had to wait a few seconds to calm herself down. "Hey James, sorry I'm late!"

James smirked and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure you are. Now where's-"

Another figure shoved the door open quickly, rushing into the diner and joining the two at their table.

"Hey James, sorry about that. _Nydia_ held us up."

"Aw relax Nova, it was just a joke," Nydia smiled innocently.

The blond girl sitting across from her was obviously not amused. "Stuffing the CPR mannequin into my locker is not a joke! It's messed up, and theft of school property."

"Well I'm pretty sure it doesn't count as theft if it stays on school property."

"How the hell did you fit that thing into her locker in the first place?" asked James.

"Oh, all you gotta do is put some muscle into it. Not that you would know ya' wimp."

The boy ignored the comment, and instead shifted his attention to the waiter approaching the table. "Hey, Mike."

The young man clicked his pen and sighed. "Hey brats, how are you planning on tormenting me today?"

"Hey, it's not my fault you choose to work at the restaurant right down the street from your _favorite_ sibling's high school," smirked Nydia.

Of course, none of them felt the need to point out that Mike had no other siblings. James did point out something else though. "Hey! _We,_ " he indicated himself and Nova, "don't even complain when you get our drinks wrong, so don't group us together with her."

The 22-year-old rolled his eyes. "First of all, anyone who willingly associates with her is defected in someway. Second, 'together with' is redundant."

"Wow bro, you sure are putting that English major to good use. I mean, just look at what a successful career you have."

"Just shut the hell up and order your drinks."

"I'll just have a coke," shrugged James.

Nydia eyed her brother. "You know I'm on a diet, get me a water."

Nova skimmed over the board on the wall. "Um…I'll try one of those fruit smoothies."

"Your funeral," Mike snickered. He quickly retreated back into the kitchen before Nova could change her mind.

Nova sighed as she turned her attention to Nydia. "Why do you have to be like that?"

Nydia shook her head, "Nova, my parents have been trying to change me and my brother for years. I've known you and James for only about three months." She mimed a set of scales with her hands. " _So_ _yeah._ "

James played with the salt and pepper shakers. "Hard to believe it's only been that long, huh?"

Nydia smiled. "Yeah, summer school dragged on _forever._ "

_That's not the point I was trying to make,_ James thought.

He would have said it out loud but felt the effort to explain would be lost on Nydia, and he was pretty certain Nova already knew what he meant. She was...special like that.

"It's hard to believe tomorrow's the last day, huh? Then we have a two week break." Nydia's smiled disappeared and she slumped in her seat. "Then it's back to another year of torture. At least we've got one more year after this one."

James looked over at Nova. "I still say that they got it wrong with you, not only do you look older than us, but you act more mature than about 90% of the people in our grade." He looked over at Nydia who currently had her head buried in her arms. "Especially her."

Nydia's response was a single finger accompanied by a muffled. "Screw you."

James ignored her. "But seriously, I'm convinced that you're just a slightly shorter than average 20 something year old."

Nova shook her head as they received their drinks from a very disinterested Mike. "Thanks Mike." She returned her attention to her friend. "I told you, the doctors all say I can't be older than 18 at the most, and besides, my physical age doesn't matter. They ranked me academically at an 11th grade level."

James nodded. He recalled that, strangely enough, although Nova's mathematics, English, and science were up to par for the most part, she was so devoid of historical knowledge that she had to take a summer course.

He, himself, wasn't actually in summer school like the two girls. The school offered a summer art course that he had joined.

Nydia stirred her drink absentmindedly. "So are you guys going to party in LoDo tomorrow? Everyone in summer school's going to celebrate that it's over."

"Wow, go to a no doubt seedy club to party with brainless morons and the future inhabitants of our country's fine incarceration system?" James deadpanned. "Where do I sign up?"

Nova shook her head. "Sorry, the group home has a curfew of nine, you know that."

"You mean the orphanage?" Nydia inquired,

"You know they prefer 'group home'."

Nydia shrugged. "Yeah well, my brother prefers 'Mike' to 'asstard'; sure hasn't stopped me."

James facepalmed, "Why do Nova and I continue to hang out with you?"

"Who knows, it's one of life's great mysteries. Like Nova." She gestured at the other girl before sipping her drink.

Nova squirmed slightly, which James noticed. "Why did you have to bring that up?"

Nydia tilted her head in confusion. "What do you - Oh you mean that?!" she scoffed. "Seriously, you have to stop being so touchy-feely about this crap, Nova's fine. Right?"

Nova nodded and smiled nonchalantly. "Yeah James, don't worry, I'm fine."

_No, you're not Nova, I can tell it still bothers you._ He shook his head and returned to his drink. _Maybe I'm wrong and I'm trying too hard to psychoanalyze you, Dad says that I always do that._

Nova got up suddenly. "Sorry guys, but I've gotta go. See ya'!" And with that, she ran out of the diner.

_Or maybe I was totally right._

* * *

"Come on kid! What's taking ya'?"

Chiro grunted as he tried to unsnag his shirt from the barb wire. "I'm coming! Just gimme a - Yes, finally!" He held up his arms victoriously, which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in his current position.

"Oww…" Chiro found himself staring straight up at the sky, his head pounding as he heard his teammates rush over.

Antauri came beside him. "Chiro, are you alright?!"

He slowly got up, holding the back of his throbbing head. "Yeah, my head's just a little sore. Good thing I fell on the grass, huh?"

"Yeah, that fence is pretty high," Otto smiled as Chiro got to his feet. "Why did they have to be so mean and put those spikes on top of it?"

Sprx rolled his eyes,."Who cares? At least we're finally out of there. That airport was huge!"

"So where do we go from here, Antauri?" asked Otto.

"I am not exactly sure Otto, I suppose - "

Otto cut him off ."Oh wait, never mind! There's a sign right here." The simian pointed to a sign the same color as him next to a currently empty dirt road. "It says Denver is 25 miles away!" Two seconds later Otto realized something and he frowned, "Wow that's pretty far."

Sprx groaned. "No kidding! With all these mountains and hills it'll take us, like, a day to get there!"

"Sprx, please calm down," said Antauri. "Chiro can just hitchhike for us again."

Sprx shook his head violently. "Ohhhhh no! Did you see the guy who picked the kid up back in Brazil?"

Chiro squirmed a little."He kept on looking at me in this freaky way, and he smelled funny."

"Hmmm yes, I do recall he did give off an… unpleasant feeling," Antauri muttered before sighing. "This road does not seem to be heavily used. It is probably some sort of service road. I suppose we will have to walk."

The four began the trek towards the city, heading along the dirt path.

"So who do you think it is Sprx? Nova or Gibson?" Chiro asked

Sprx shrugged. "I _hope_ it's not brainstrain, but I don't have a clue."

* * *

"Nova!"

_Is that?_

"Nova! Wait up!"

The teenage girl turned around. "James?"

Sure enough, the boy was running towards Nova, and after a few seconds reached her.

"Hey Nova," he said in between labored panting.

Nova smirked. "You're already out of breath? The diner's only a block away."

"Oh um…" James grasped for an excuse. "Screw it, we both know I need to work out more."

Nova snickered."So what's the problem?"

"Well, I was kinda going to ask you..."

"Huh?"

James sighed. "Nova, you left so fast after Nydia mentioned… Are you alright?"

"James, I said I'm fine, alright?"

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," said Nova. "You worry too much. I mean, I'd _like_ to know, but I don't _dwell_ on it."

_Liar,_ she inwardly berated herself.

"Okay…" he walked besides her as she continued.

She looked over at him. "Aren't you gonna' head back to the diner?"

"Nah', Nydia and me don't really get along all that great in case you haven't noticed," James shook his head. "Besides, the food there sucks."

"True, I mean how do you burn soup?!"

He laughed. "Yeah. So are you really going back to the group home, or was that just what you told us to get rid of us and go do something you didn't want us to know about?"

She smirked. "Yes James, that's _exactly_ it, I'm off to go see my drug mules, I actually run a cartel."

James faked a gasp. "I knew it!"

The two laughed together.

Nova took a few seconds to stop as they came to the crosswalk. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

When she looked over he was staring.

"What?"

"Uhhh… nothing," he blushed slightly and looked away.

"What?" This time more demanding.

" _Nothing._ Just - look it must have been a trick of the light or something."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for a second your eyes looked pink."

" _Pink_?" Nova blanched.

James shrugged. "Yeah, but like I said, trick of the light." The crosswalk light turned green. "Well see you tomorrow Nova." He ran across the street.

"Yeah… tomorrow." Nova stood there for a few more seconds before going. _Well that was weird._

As she made her way 'home', Nova contemplated her friends.

She had met Nydia in her home room for summer school. Apparently, the girl had failed both English and mathematics; which became very obvious as she repeatedly copied Nova's homework. 

Her abrasive and boastful nature had attracted Nova. It felt very familiar and strangely comforting. And besides, she knew that deep down Nydia cared. _Well that's what I hope, anyway_.

James, she had met outside of school actually, his parents volunteered down at the group home, and they had dragged him down there more than once. When she first saw him, she could have sworn that she already knew him. He just looked so… familiar. Messy black hair, deep blue eyes; it was weird.

She was just grateful that he had reciprocated her feelings of friendship and not the… other feelings that most boys in the school tended to direct towards her (well until she kicked that one guy in the crotch, most of the guys avoided her after that).

Together, it felt almost like she was home when she was with the two of them… _Wherever 'home' actually is._


	15. Rocky Mountain High

  
**TIME:** 20 Hours and 45 Minutes Later, 15:40 UTC-4  
 **LOCATION:** City Park, Denver, USA

Nydia sat on a bench outside of the high school, tapping her foot to the tune on her I-Pod.

She looked over at the large clock on the school wall. _You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago Nova, where are you? I wanna spend time with you but not if it means I miss the party._

About ten seconds later Nova wandered out the front door looking confused.

"Nova!" Nydia cried to get her attention.

Nova swung her head in surprise before seeing who it was. "Oh hey, Nydia. Sorry I'm late; have you seen James?"

"Oh my god you're late because of him?!" Nydia rolled her eyes. "Seriously Nova, this will be the last time I see you until school starts again. I don't want to lose it because you won't stop worrying about that loser."

"Don't call him that!"

"Fine, that 'socially disadvantaged individual'. Honestly girl, I don't know why you're so dead set on him, you could do a lot better."

"Oh for - What do I have to do to prove to everyone that it's not like that?! Is so impossible for two people of opposite genders to be _just_ friends?"

"No, but I happen to know that you're not a homo," Nydia smirked. "Money's still out on James though."

"Listen you -!"

"Look, just go find him, okay?" Nydia relented. "He's probably still in the art room. I'll wait here for you."

Nova quickly cooled off, for the most part. "Why are we even friends, again?"

Nydia shrugged. "Because we're both strong, good-looking, don't take any crap from the guys, and share an unhealthy drug-like addiction to stuffed animals."

Nova gaped. "You said-!"

"Relax, no one heard. There's hardly anyone here anyway."

Nova decided to give up at this point. She made her way back up the steps, Nydia cried after her. "If you take longer than 15 minutes I'll just assume you're having sex and leave without you!"

Nova mumbled in anger, ignoring the Hispanic.

Nydia giggled lightly to her self as Nova stomped into the building. _And you're very fun to tease, can't forget that one._

* * *

Nova walked down the art/music hall. It was empty, except for the mess left by the summer school students as they rushed out in celebration of the last day. Apparently the janitors were on strike so nobody was there to clean it up.

She entered the room James usually was in. "James? You still in here?"

Sure enough James was there, standing in front of a sculpture he was working on, totally oblivious to everything else.

"James!"

"Huh?!" The boy whipped his head around, smiling and relaxing when he saw who it was. "Oh, hey Nova. What are you doing here?"

"Um, James, do you even know school's over?"

"Yeah, everyone left about five minutes ago I think, I was just putting on the finishing touches."

"James, school ended almost half an hour ago!" she pointed towards the clock.

The boy's eyes widened in shock. "Oh crap! I'm sorry Nova I totally lost track of time!"

Nova shrugged, "It's okay, it's not like we can't see each other soon. This is more for Nydia. So what are you working on anyway?"

"Oh!" James stepped out of the way, presenting it. "It still needs to be painted, but I think that it's pretty good so far."

Nova's eyes widened. "A monkey? Why…?" She trailed off. This was mentally straining to her for some reason. "Did you just decide to do a monkey on whim?"

James shrugged. "Kinda, the theme this summer was nature, I chose to do a monkey."

"Huh," said Nova, only half paying attention, "what color are you going to paint it?"

James looked at Nova strangely as he cleaned his sculpting tools. "Brown, duh."

"Hmm," Nova continued to stare at the sculpture. "I feel that it should be a different color for some reason."

James smiled, slightly puzzled yet amused "Okay… Like what?"

"Black, or red, or green, maybe blue."

James laughed lightly. "You do realize this is a zoo exhibit we're talking about, not a cartoon, right?"

* * *

_Okay, are they actually having sex or something?_

Nydia was peeved, it had been eleven minutes so far, and Nova was still in the building.

_It takes four minutes top, to get to the art wing and back._

Off to her left, a bush rustled.

The girl tilted her head in confusion. _A squirrel?_

She got up from the bench and made her way over to the shrub, going slowly as to not disturb whatever was in it. _Maybe it's a chipmunk._

She reached out to push the branches out of the way, before stopping suddenly. _Wait. What if it's like a rabid raccoon or something._

Nydia held still for a few moments.

_Wait raccoons are nocturnal._

She brushed the branches out of the way to find...nothing.

_Well that was really anti-climatic._

She stood up and smirked sardonically.

_Now's the part in the movie where it turns out the serial killer is actually behind me._

Nydia slowly lost her smirk and peeked around nervously before quickly making her way into the building.

_I better go see what's taking Nova!_

* * *

**TIME** :10:45 UTC+12  
 **LOCATION:** Wellington, New Zealand

Hyun Jae felt like banging her head against a wall. _I am such an idiot._

When she packed for her trip to New Zealand she had taken everything she needed with her: cell phone, check. Passport, check. Credit card, check. Toiletries, check. A Korean/English dictionary, check. A proper change of clothes because it was winter in the southern hemisphere, _not_ check.

She sighed as she handed the store clerk her credit card, along with her brand new clothes. _This trip is going to end up draining away my inheritance at this rate! You better be really fucking grateful when I rescue you Antauri._

She exited the store a few minutes later, having slipped her new maroon sweater over her t-shirt. She was fortunately already wearing a plain beige skirt that kept her sufficiently warm, but that was the only piece of clothing that she had that could be warn in weather below 15°C, so she had spent almost ₩375,000, or in this country, $450.

She shook her head, _No time to worry about money. Now then, where's the nearest bus stop? I need to get to that shop Jin Sang said was in the report._

She glanced about for a bus stop sign, when she glimpsed something down the street. _Is that…?_

It was a beach. _It's been forever since I've been to the ocean._ She looked down at her watch, _I can spare a few minutes for a little stroll._ Hyun Jae quickly made her way down the block, stopping where the sand began.

There was nobody on the stretch of beach, unsurprisingly, what with the current temperature (and the cloudy weather only added to the effect). The beach wasn't exactly pristine, with patches of washed up seaweed and a little bit of trash, but it had been years since Hyun Jae had even seen anything larger than a pond, so she really didn't mind.

As she looked over the sand however, something caught her eye. Down towards the end of the sand, where the beach became rocks. There was a flash of pink and white. _Did someone leave clothes on the beach?_

As she walked closer to sate her curiosity, what slowly came into view caused a sudden shift in speed as she sprinted forward, it was a girl.

She soon reached the prone figure, "Hello, please say you are taking a nap." She said in heavily accented English

The girl didn't stir, _No, no, no, this is bad!_

Hyun Jae knelt down, and touched the girls clothing. The strange outfit was wet, _Crap, please tell me she's breathing._

She leaned in close to listen for a breath, when the girl's eyes suddenly flew open. Before Hyun Jae could even sigh in relief or gasp in shock, the girl's hands shot up and wrapped around her neck.

Hyun Jae was thrown down onto the ground, the previously unconscious girl now on top of her while Hyun Jae tried to tare her hands away as she gasped for breath.

Less than a second later the girl's conscious thought seemed to catch up with the situation, as she suddenly let go and gasped in shock (unlike Hyun Jae who was gasping for oxygen).

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! That was just instinctual or something I swear!"

Hyun Jae pushed the younger girl lightly out of her way as she sat up. "Yes, yes that's -" She glanced at the girl, realizing something, "Wait, you speak Korean?" _She does look vaguely East-Asian, maybe one of her parents is from Korea and the others from here._

"Um...yes?" The girl said, seemingly unsure of herself. "Are you alright?"

Hyun Jae nodded as she brushed the sand out of her hair, "The question is, is if you're okay. You're in soaking wet and no doubt freezing clothes, and I found you passed out on the beach."

The pink-haired girl, ( _Dyed I guess?_ ), shook her head, "I'm fine, okay?" She looked around the beach, seemingly disoriented. "Um...where am I?"

Hyun Jae gaped. "You don't know where you are?" _This is eerily similar to how I found Antauri._

The girl nodded. "Yeah, I'm kinda lost. My name is Jin May by the way."

_Jin May? Isn't that Chinese? Then why is she speaking perfect Korean? Wait, that's not important right now._ Hyun Jae extended her hand, "My name's Hyun Jae."

Hyun Jae stood up and brushed the sand off of her as Jin May did the same. "So what were you doing that got you lost anyway Jin May?"

"Um...I was looking for my friend."

Hyun Jae laughed a small sardonic laugh. "Well what do you know, so am I. That's why I came to New Zealand in the first place, to find my friend Antauri."

"Antauri!" Jin May yelled, surprised

"You know him?" Hyun Jae asked, half in disbelief, half hopeful.

Jin May nodded. "I think so, at least I know someone with that name. Does the name Chiro mean anything to you. He's who I'm looking for."

Hyun Jae gaped before snatching Jin May's hand and dragging her away. "You're coming with me."

 

* * *

  
**LOCATION:** City Park, Denver, USA  
 **TIME:** 15:53 UTC-4

"So are we gonna go?"

"Huh?!" Nova looked up to see James standing beside her.

The boy raised an eyebrow at Nova's continued fixation on the statue. "A picture would last longer ya' know."

"Sorry," Nova blushed lightly, embarrassed, _Why am I so obsessed with this thing?_

"Hey guys!"

The two quickly looked towards the door.

"Nydia?" Nova was puzzled at her friends arrival. "Why are you here?"

Nydia was breathing heavily as the door closed behind her, as if she had ran to the room. "Well you were taking a while so I figured I see what was happening, glad to see you aren't boning each other."

"Would you just drop that already?!" James facepalmed. "We're not having sex!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Nydia quickly brushed him off, a slight tinge of nervousness to her voice.

Nova noticed this. "Nydia? Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing-" she stopped and smiled sardonically at herself. "It's just, you know that feeling you get that someone is watching you, I couldn't stop feeling that outside. It was probably nothing though. So, are we gonna go or not?" Nydia turned around and opened the door.

As soon as she did, a dark shape lunged at her and tackled her to the ground.

"HOLY SHIT!" James yelled and stumbled backwards as the humanoid thing began attacking Nydia with its claws.

"GET OFF OF HER!" Nova yelled as she punted the monster off of Nydia, into a shelf of art supplies.

To her surprise the thing more or less exploded in a shower of black goop.

"What the fuck was that thing?!" shouted James, as he got up from the floor. "It looked like a skeleton had climbed out of a tar pit!"

Nova was still staring at the puddle of black goop. "I-I don't know."

It was only then that both of them realized that Nydia still hadn't made a sound since the attack.

Nova quickly bent down at Nydia's side. "Nydia!" After about a second however, she saw that Nydia's chest, although covered in shallow cuts, was still rising and falling with breaths. "Oh thank god, she's still breathing."

James shook his head. "T-this still isn't good, sh-she-" James stopped to take a calming breath. "A fall hard enough to knock someone out will give them a serious concussion, maybe even permanent brain damage."

Nova reached out to Nydia.

"No, don't!" James exclaimed.

"Why not?"

"I'm no expert, but it's probably better to not move her."

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do! I'm not just going to leave my friend lying here, maybe dying from her skull being cracked open!"

"I DON'T KNOW, OKAY!?" James yelled.

It was at this point that Nova realized James was still shaking violently.

The boy continued, visibly breaking down as he did so/ "I don't know what we should do with her, I don't know what the _fuck_ the thing that just attacked us was, I don't know if there's more of them waiting outside, I - I don't know okay?"

Nova put her hands on James' shoulders. "James I need you to _calm down_ and think okay?"

James shuddered before taking several deep breaths, "You're right, I'm sorry." He slowly gazed over at Nydia. "I'll call 911." He took his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Damn, no bars. How about you?"

"You know I don't have a cell phone." Nova took the cell phone from James. "I'll go pull a fire alarm, that'll bring the fire department and ambulances, right?"

"But what if there are more of those things?!" James exclaimed.

"James, the door has been open this whole time, and no others have come barging in here, I think it's safe. Besides, I can defend myself. There's a reason I wasn't afraid to kick that guy in the nads last month."

James smiled, reassured. "Okay, I'll stay here and keep an eye on Nydia then."

"I'll be right back."

Nova quickly exited the room, closing the door behind her and running for the nearest fire alarm. However, when she reached the alarm less than fifteen seconds later, a large crash and yell emanated from the room. _JAMES!_

Nova quickly yanked down the alarm and immediately sprinted back to the room and slammed the door open, upon which she was treated to a horrible sight.

Some...THING that looked like a monkey zombie with a crab claw had pinned a heavily injured James down, the teen's right forearm in the pincer. "Now hold still boy! Wouldn't want you to get hurt would we?" the thing sneered as he snapped the pincer shut.

James screamed in horrific pain as his arm was crushed and torn, bones cracking and vessels bursting from the pressure.

The thing laughed gleefully as blood began to pour from the wound. He was too distracted to even notice Nova charging at him.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" She tackled the monster, and began viciously whaling on it with her fists, it hurt immensely for both of them. Her blows were hard, but so was the strange armor like substance most of him was coated in.

After a few seconds, the thing was able to throw Nova off of himself, and into the shelf which then fell onto her and the puddle of sticky goop. "You..." he growled, "How dare you touch me you filthy huma-!" He paused in surprise, slowly coming to a realization as he stared at the now stuck girl. "Nova?"

"How do you know my name?!" She yelled, trying to get up from the sticky mess as the shelf held her down.

The monster laughed maliciously, ignoring her. "Oh how, _ironic_ , here I thought that these humans had somehow captured you, using you for experiments and the like. It's not above them you know?" He growled. "But no, what I've found is even more pathetic than what I could have ever imagined. You've become one of these weak things!"

He slowly approached the girl. "You know, Master always said that you five were redeemable, and that we would be able to convert you to our side. I always thought it strange, but neither of I ever questioned it." He punched Nova's face. "But now I see that you aren't worth a moment of my time, and I don't know how I ever thought otherwise."

The monster turned and walked away, before leaping out the window he had smashed coming in.

Nova struggled to free herself, lifting the shelf off of her. "Get back here you bastard!" She got out from under the metallic heap, and began to give cha-

"Nova."

Nova froze, looking over at her friend, who was now lying in a pool of his own blood. "JAMES!"

Nova made her way over to her friend's right side, inspecting the wound. The arm was a horrific mess, covered in blood and more than a few fragments of bone were visible.

"Nova?" He whispered.

Nova looked at his face. _Oh James..._ The teen's face was contorted in pain, yet somehow relaxed. Tears were still streaming down his face.

"Nova, did you pull the alarm?"

"Yeah, they should be here soon."

"Good, that's good, Nydia..." He trailed off. "They're not gonna get here fast enough for me Nova, are they?"

"You'll be fine."

He shook his head slowly. "No, I won't, I've lost so much blood already, I-" He choked back a sob. "Tell my parents I love them and that I'm sorry."

"You're not going to die!"

James smiled sadly. "Your eyes, they're pink again. It fits you ya' know?"

"James, snap out of it!"

His eyes started to close. "I'm sorry Nova, but it hurts so much, and I'm so tired."

"James don't give up they'll be here any second!"

He didn't respond. Blank eyes stared right back at her.

"JAMES!"

Nova stood up and looked out the smashed window, she could hear sirens coming.

She looked back towards Nydia, who fortunately remained unscathed during her fight. "I'll come back for you Nydia," she turned back to the window, "but first I'm going to go find and kill that thing."


	16. Nil Sine

  
**TIME:** 11:38 UTC+12  
 **LOCATION:** Wellington, New Zealand

"Is this it?"

Hyun Jae looked to her side at the pink-haired girl. Her hair was oddly distracting; maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she'd chosen a more modest shade of pink for her hair colour. It was like Jin May fancied herself some sort of super anime superhero or something like that. She pushed aside her thoughts. "Uh, yeah, this is it."

She looked at the building they had stopped in front of. Although she was mediocre at best at speaking English, she was a proficient enough reader of the language to see that the sign said 'Out to Lunch: Back at 12:30'.

She sighed and took out her phone to check the time. "What's that say?

"Hmm?" Hyun Jae saw that Jin May was pointing at the sign. "It says they'll be back at 12:30 which is...45 minutes from now."

"So, what do we do until then?" Jin May asked.

Hyun Jae plopped down onto a nearby bench. "We wait."

Jin May sat next to Hyun Jae, nervously twiddling her thumbs.

"So how do you know this kid Chiro?"

Jin May looked up, who raised an eyebrow at Jin May's reaction.

"You somehow know the kid who probably kidnapped my friend. Did you really think I wasn't going to ask any questions? And seeing as we have nothing to do for the next 45 minutes, I might as well start. So, how do you know him?"

"Chiro's...a friend." Jin May's face blushed, perfectly matching her hair.

Hyun Jae smirked.

Before she could voice an opinion, Jin May suddenly exclaimed. "And Chiro didn't kidnap Antauri! He couldn't have! Antauri's his teacher!"

"Teacher? In what exactly? Antauri isn't old enough for that."

"What do you mean he isn't old enough?" Jin May shot back. "I - uh - I mean I don't know his exact age, but he's definitely old enough to teach Chiro."

"So what, was Antauri his tutor or something?"

"Well, kind of. I mean, um, Antauri was teaching Chiro how to use the Power Primate and lead the team."

Hyun Jae completely blanched. "Power Primate?! Team?! What in the he-"

"Uh, excuse me." The two conversing females looked up to see a relatively large and imposing bald man standing in front of the bench. "Are you waiting for help?"

"Yes," nodded Hyun Jae. "You own this shop?"

The man laughed slightly, apparently surprised by her accent. "Yeah. Name's Jeff."

 

* * *

  
**TIME:** 16:40 UTC-4  
 **LOCATION:** Denver, USA

The forest was still for a second. But only for a second.

The bushes rustled as a number of beings streaked through it.

"Are you sure they're this way?!" shouted the crimson monkey.

"Yes Sprx!" replied Antauri. "I am positive that they are this way!"

"Yeah, I can feel it really clearly too," Chiro agreed. "And that's usually a bad sign. We have to hurry!"

After a few seconds Otto spoke up. "Do you guys hear that noise?"

Chiro looked over at him. "What noi -" His eyes opened slightly wider as he realized that he could faintly hear a blaring noise in the distance. "I hear it! But what is it?"

"That is not an optimistic sign," responded Antauri. "Those sound like emergency sirens. I just hope they aren't related to our teammate."

Sprx began to run faster. "Knowing our luck they are! We gotta hurry!"

The three others sped up as well, panic in each of them.

Sprx, however, still had the lead and charged straight into a clearing ahead of his teammates.

"Sprx wait!" Antauri cried.

Otto, Chiro, and Antauri all charged through the bushes surrounding the clearing after the red team member.

Otto barged his way out first, followed by Chiro and Antauri less than a second later; only for the three to find a Sprx standing still with his back to him. "Sprx! You can't go running away like tha -" He stopped short when he saw what Sprx was staring at.

In the middle of the clearing was Mandarin, heavily panting and glaring at a girl a few feet away from him. The girl was covered in numerous lacerations and bruises. Her clothes were filthy in torn in many places. She held a shovel which she apparently had been using as a make shift weapon, judging by the cracks in their former teammate's armor.

The two hadn't noticed the three's arrival, and Mandarin began to make a lunge at the girl until Sprx broke the silence, gaining their attention.

"Nova?!"

The two quickly turned towards them, both surprised at first, although Mandarin quickly had a devious smile spread across his face. "Why, hello there _team_ ; I was wondering when you would catch up with us."

* * *

Nova stared at the four new arrivals to the clearing, gripping her shovel tighter in fear. The kid she wasn't worried about; she barely even noticed him. It was the three others that worried her. _Oh god this is bad, they look like robot versions of_ it _, and looking at them gives me the same headache when I look at him_.

She looked between the small group and _it_ , and noticed that they seemed intensely focused on each other. _He's distracted!_

Although _it_ began to turn around to defend itself, Nova was too fast. She swung the shovel down, hard, slamming _it_ to the ground; all while she screamed in rage. She kept on hitting him, as hard as she could. After the third hit, however, _it_ suddenly thrusted up with the claw... _It still has James' blood on it..._ to try and hurt her, but she was able to move in time, instead the claw slamming shut around the shovel's handle, snapping it in two.

Nova stumbled backwards, realizing that she was now holding a wooden stick. _No! No, no, no! I'm not going to die here!_

"NOVA!"

One of the robot things, the red one, had jumped between her and _it_. "Don't touch her!"

She looked about and noticed the three others had surrounded them, and that somehow the three robots turned their hands into weapons. _Are that kid's hands glowing?!_

"AH!" She grabbed her head as it throbbed in pain. _It feels like someone's bashing my head in with a sledgehammer!_

The pain was so intense that it was a struggle to stay conscious, and she barely noticed when someone grabbed her shoulder.

"Nova, are you okay?!"

She looked up and saw that it was the red one again. She pushed him off and tried to crawl away.

"Leave me alone you..." She couldn't finish her sentence. The pain in her head was too intense, it felt like she was going to pass out.

So she did.

* * *

Mandarin leapt through the undergrowth, swinging under and over branches in his way. When Nova passed out, the team was distracted enough for him to escape easily enough.

He crashed through a bush, and grimaced at the pain it caused when the spiky twigs brushed against his various injuries caused by a certain former teammate and her shovel.

_Damn her! I should have killed her when I had the chance. She must still have some of the power primate left in her; it's the only way a human could have harmed me._

This, of course, only led him back to a realization that angered him even more. _I can't beat them by myself._

If there was one thing that Mandarin lacked above all else, it was humility, but even he knew that there were limits to what was possible. Without any form of backup, he estimated that he might be able to take on three at once, but four was too many.

Valina wasn't coming for him either; he had supposed that she would eventually come groveling to him for help. But without the team on her trail, she probably didn't need any help.

The Formless were out of the question too. On his own he only had the capability to summon and control about one at a time, not exactly an army.

He sighed, resting on a tree limb. _Think Mandarin! You were able to turn those five pathetic monkeys into a team capable of defeating master. You are NOT going to be defeated like this._

As he thought, he slowly began to hear something. _What is that infernal blaring?_

He quickly made his way to the edge of the trees and saw the source of the noise. It was coming from that building he had found Nova in. It was surrounded by various vehicles that resembled the emergency response teams in Shuggazoom that would clean up in the aftermath of a fight.

He smirked at the fact that he sent the humans scrambling like this. _I think I'll go see the aftermath of my little scuffle._

He quickly dashed across the street without being seen and climbed up into the trees next to the building. He slowly made his way over to the window where he had broken in, remaining in the trees and out of sight. Near the window were two humans in black-blue outfits spreading out what looked like a long yellow ribbon as some sort of make shift barrier.

One of the two, the taller of the two, began talking. "So when is the CSI team supposed to get here?"

"About an hour from now I think." The shorter one responded, finishing up with the ribbon and turning towards the window. "Poor kid, his family's gonna be devastated."

The taller one shook his head. "Did you see his arm? What kinda sick fuck does that?"

A crackling noise suddenly came from the shorter human's hip followed by some muffled words that Mandarin couldn't hear. The human grabbed what Mandarin guessed was some sort of clunky communicator and began talking into it. "Copy, this is Officer Mallea, over."

A garbled voice, inaudible to Mandarin, came from the communicator for the next few seconds before the human spoke into it again. "Copy, we're on our way, over."

The human sighed and looked over at the other one, "Come on, Alvarez needs help setting up a perimeter around the school."

The two quickly left and soon turned around the corner of the building.

At this point Mandarin dropped down and jumped into the window to witness the carnage. What he saw shocked him momentarily.

You see, although Mandarin would be the first to admit that almost nothing would please him more than to destroy every human in existence (second to perhaps enslaving them), he had never actually killed one. Not from a lack of trying mind you, it's just that Chiro wasn't exactly an easy target.

Mandarin smirked. _I shouldn't be surprised, without the Power Primate humans are pathetically weak creatures._

He looked down at the human's corpse, and noted that it was already beginning to pale. _Why did Nova care about you so much?_ Now that he thought about it, Nova had gone absolutely berserk when he had killed this human. Were they friends perhaps?

_Not that it would surprise me, that child has completely corrupted the team beyond any hope._ He remarked to himself.

Suddenly, Mandarin had an idea on how to defeat the team, in particular Nova.

He summoned up some of the black ooze that he had used to make the formless as he leered at the boy's dead body. "You child, are going to help me."


	17. Pechvogel

 

  
**TIME:** 01:20 UTC-6  
 **LOCATION:** Somewhere over Illinois

"Nova?"

The yellow simian sat on the cold metal floor of the plane's cargo hold, holding her legs up against herself along with her tail. She barely even looked up at the whispered voice, which she had trouble making out over the dull roar of the jet engines that penetrated the metal hull.

It was Chiro; the boy was standing in front of her, smiling sadly.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" She mumbled bitterly; before looking back down at the grated floor again, doing her best to ignore Chiro as he continued to stand in front of her.

"I couldn't fall asleep."

Nova knew this was a lie; the dark bags under Chiro's eyes were visible even in the poor lighting of the cargo hold, he probably hadn't slept in at least a day.

She didn't bother to point any of this out though, instead she just continued to disregard his presence in hopes that he would do the same.

Such was not her luck, as evidenced by the 14-year-old choosing to sit down next to her.

The young boy sighed awkwardly, apparently unsure how to start, "You… haven't said a word since back at that clearing where we found you, is there anything you wanna talk about?"

Nova decided to answer with a question of her own, "Isn't Antauri the one who's supposed to be doing this? Or did he decide to delegate team therapist to you for once?"

Chiro laughed nervously, "Um, I told Antauri that I wanted to talk to you. He said it was a good idea seeing as he can't always be the one to do it and how I have to be the leader of the team and…." Chiro trailed off as he realized that he was; A) rambling, and B) really not helping..

Chiro rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Look; Nova, we're _really_ worried about you. Otto can't sleep, Antauri can't meditate, and Sprx is ready to bite all our heads off."

Nova gave no response aside from her continued dead stare at the ground.

"Nova, please! We all have no idea what's going on. Did something happen with you and Mandarin? Are you sad that you had to leave friends behind like the rest of the team? Please, say something!" He was whispering hysterically, trying his hardest not to shout and worry the team or give away their presence.

"I'm going to kill him."

"What?"

Nova silently cursed herself as she felt hot tears trickle down her face.

"Nova, what are you talking about?"

Nova breathed in sharply, her voice coming out a mix of anger and grief. "What I'm talking about, is how I'm going to kill Mandarin the next time I see him. I'm not going to talk to him, I'm not going to try and restrain him, and I'm not going to hold back, I'm going to kill him."

Chiro didn't answer.

"Please just… go away Chiro, we'll both need our sleep if we're going to find Gibson." Nova curled further into a ball.

"I…" Chiro did what he figured he would want in Nova's place, he hugged her. "Nova please, just tell me. What did Mandarin do? One thing Antauri's taught me, the longer you keep something bottled up the more it'll hurt."

"Please just… just…" Nova trailed off as she began to sob into Chiro's shirt.

Chiro ignored the wetness that leaked from the creases in Nova's lenses, soaking his shirt, as he was more shocked by the fact that Nova was _crying_. None of the team _ever_ cried, at least not in front of him.

As Nova's sobs began to taper away, the yellow monkey's exhaustion finally catching up with her, Chiro could only try to guess what had caused this.

_Nova, what did he do to you?_

 

  
**TIME:** 07:25 UTC+1

  
**LOCATION:** Munich, Germany

It was an unusually hot summer in Munich; even this early in the morning, temperatures had already hit what one would expect for midday. However, temperature was the last thing on one man's mind as his bed was jostled.

_It's too early._

That was Marcell's first thought as he entered the waking realm. He felt stiffer than a sheet of steel, and he was so exhausted that you would think he had gotten one hour of sleep instead of six. His head was pounding like several tactical nukes had been set off inside his skull, his mouth felt like it was padded with cotton that was laced with crap, and his stomach felt like a miniature martial artist was trying to punch his way out.

In other words? A classic hangover.

"Wake up." A foggy voice commanded, no doubt the evil force that had awoken him. The blond, blue eyed, bespectacled force that he had the _wonderful_ pleasure of calling his roommate.

"Unn… go away Gib." The brown haired boy moaned, and buried his head in the pillow.

"It's _Gibson_ , and you're going to miss class if you don't start getting ready immediately." To reiterate his point, the twenty something year old tossed the covers back.

"AH!" He screamed, covering his eyes as he stumbled back, trying not to trip over the messy floor that comprised Marcell's side of the room.

 _Huh?_ Marcell was baffled by Gibson reactio- _Oh. Wow. I sure don't remember that happening last night._ _I wonder what happened to my clothes._

He quickly threw the covers back on. "It's safe now, you prude." He muttered into the sheets.

Gibson sighed in resignation as he dropped his hand away from his eyes, thinking that he should really be expecting this kind of behavior by now, "If you don't hurry and get dressed you'll miss your Calculus class."

"Have pity on me, I'm hungover."

Gibson snorted as he looked about for suitable clothing for his roommate, "I stop pitying people when they overimbue themselves with alcohol to the point of veisalgia biweekly. Besides, you know that as long as you show up to the class, Mr. Biermann couldn't care less if you sleep through it."

Marcell tired to crawl under the sheets, away from the piercing light. "Why do you even care?"

"To be honest, I haven't the slightest clue Sprx." Gibson sighed as he plucked a shirt off the floor, inspecting it to see if it was suitable.

Marcell sat up puzzled, ignoring his blaring headache "Who?"

Gibson glanced over at him as he discarded the shirt, "Who what?"

"Who's Sprx?"

"Sprx?" Gibson tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah, you just said that instead of my name."

Gibson stood there, pondering this for a moment. "Strange." He mumbled.

Marcell snorted as he dived under the covers, finally having found a pair of briefs. "Yeah maybe it has something to do with your _amnesia_." He said, putting a mocking undertone on the word 'amnesia'.

Gibson narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "For the last time. I am not _faking_ it!"

Marcell rolled his eyes as he got out of his bed to find a shirt. "Yeah whatever."

In all honesty, Marcell really was unsure about Gibson. The man was definitely strange enough that actually having amnesia would hardly make him any more unique.

The nineteen year old knew hardly a thing about his roommate, but he did know a little.

'Gibson', as he called himself, was found passed out and nude in Olympiapark sometime in the spring. After waking up in the hospital, the young man claimed to know nothing except his name, and a search for any kind of missing person reports or anything of the sort turned up nothing.

For _some_ reason (Marcell didn't pretend to understand what went through his roommate's head for a second) Gibson then decided he wanted to enroll in the university. Apparently he was some kind of super genius; and the university was more than happy to give him a scholarship, hoping to 'enrich the life of an ill-fated young man', or to translate, PR opportunity!

_I suppose I should just be glad that by this point he isn't raving about how it was aliens that did this to him like those conspiracy nuts._

 

  
**TIME:** 17:30 UTC+12

  
**LOCATION:** Wellington, New Zealand

_Christ, it's like my life has become a conspiracy nut's wet dream._

Jeff massaged his forehead in an attempt to ward off his ever growing headache.

 _I need some damn coffee._ That was his only thought as he trudged over to the front counter. Well that and, _Why do we keep the coffee maker up front?_

The bald young man poured the grounds and then the water in before flipping the switch and plopping himself down on a seat.

He soon found himself staring at the moldy ceiling as he waited for the coffee, his thoughts beginning to wander as he went over everything that had happened in the last few hours.

"Jeff?"

"Huh?" He quickly looked towards the source of the noise. "Ally!"

The young girl smiled coyly, "Yeah, sorry I'm late. There was this huge sale down at the boutiques and me and Olly just couldn't resist ourselves."

Jeff stood up, "Your cell phone was off."

"Um; sorry about that, it ran out of power."

Ally was usually treated at this point to a lecture about how she should have come home right away or used a payphone or something like that, so she was surprised when her brother just shook his head in dismissal of the situation.

"Jeff? Is everything okay?" She asked cautiously.

"Ye- Well…" He sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Just come on back okay? It'll be easier to show you then to explain."

As Jeff made his way towards the back of the shop Ally ran to catch up with him, talking as she walked alongside him. "It's not Mom is it? I mean the doctors said there was a chance-"

"It's not Mom."

"Then what is it? Is it Otto?" She gasped without receiving any form of conformation, "Oh my god it is, isn't it?"

"Well sort of." Jeff indecisively said as he twisted the doorknob.

"What do you mean sort of?"

Jeff expected that Ally would have continued with her rapid interrogation, but she stopped upon seeing that they had guests in their spacious back room.

Jeff made a motion to present his sister, "My sister Alice, Ally this is Hyun Jae and Jinmay… at least that's what she _says_ her name is." He added the last part quite bitterly.

"Wait what?" was Ally's understandably confused response.

Their two guests were two girls. The one called Jinmay was about her age, probably a little older, with strikingly vivid pink hair. The other looked a little younger than Jeff, and seemed to be of East Asian ethnicity. As Ally took in their appearances, Hyun Jae got up from the folding chairs that Jeff had taken out of a closet and shook Ally's hand.

"Hello, it is nice to meet you." She had a very thick accent, and Jeff honestly had a little trouble making out a few words she had said.

The pink haired girl remained seated in the pale brown chair, and judging by body language, she was extremely nervous and uncomfortable.

Ally looked to her brother, a look of perplextion still fixed upon her face.

The young man made his way over to the ugly dirty-green sofa they kept back in the room, inviting Ally to sit next to him.

Ally shook her head in disbelief at how calm Jeff was acting, "Tell me what in the hell is going on!" She exclaimed before pointing at the two girls, "Why are they here anyway? What does this have to do with Otto?"

Jinmay suddenly lost her subdued demeanor, jumping up from her chair and speaking for the first time to Ally, "You know Otto too? Was he okay? Was any of the rest of the team with him?"

Ally was too stunned to speak; Jeff however, was not "Sit the hell down Sheila! We aren't done questioning you yet."

The neon pink haired girl quietly trudged back to her seat in uncomfortable silence, before muttering "My name's Jinmay." as she sat down.

"Yeah whatever." Jeff said dismissively before turning his attention back to Ally. "Hyun Jae here is in the same boat as us Ally. I would let her tell us all about it but…"

Hyun Jae continued, "As you heard, my English is not the best. And I do not trust her to translating." She gazed at Jinmay as she said the last sentence.

Jeff carried on. "Hyun Jae had a friend named Antauri, disappeared without a trace, just like Otto."

"Okay well, I'm really sorry for you but-" Ally started.

"I'm not done yet o' little sister of mine. Antauri also had total amnesia, no history to speak of, and was first found naked and unconscious. Sound familiar?"

"Wait, you mean that they were connected?"

Hyun Jae nodded, "Yes, I was very sure when I came here. And now I am certain."

"What do you mean certain?" Ally asked.

"Do you remember Chiro?" Jeff smirked

Ally nodded, "Why?"

Hyun Jae sighed, "Right before Antauri went away, I see Chiro. Antauri was gone that night."

Ally slowly sat down, shocked "So wait, does this mean this is like a conspiracy or something? And what do you have to do with any of this?"

Jinmay squirmed, uncomfortable from the questioning. "Chiro is-"

Jeff loudly interrupted her, "I thought I told you-!"

Jinmay quickly stood up, her chair squeaking back across the floor, "No! I'm just as involved as- No! More involved than you guys! And I have every right to talk!"

For the next few seconds the room was silent, the only noise being the hum of the florescent lights.

Jeff eventually broke the silence with a bitter, "Fine! But let us finish first."

Jinmay nodded angrily before sitting back down.

Jeff sighed before continuing, "Now then; assuming what she says is true, we know two important things about Jinmay: 1) That she is apparently Chiro's girlfriend, which is why she's here, and 2) the unrelated but still important fact that Missy over here is somehow able to speak so that anyone can understand her."

"Huh?"

Hyun Jae answered the unspoken question, "When you hear her speak, Jinmay has perfect English yes?"

"Yeah… Why?" Ally asked.

"When I hear her speak, I hear her talking perfect Korean."

Ally looked over at Jinmay in disbelief. "How?"

"That's what we've been trying to find out." Jeff frowned and rubbed his temples, "That's it; I need that coffee now, maybe with a shot of whiskey. Excuse me."

Jeff left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Um…" Jinmay started, "What's whiskey?"


	18. Die Sache hat ein Aber

 

  
**TIME:** 18:04 UTC+1  
 **LOCATION:** Munich, Germany

Today was a very bad day to be stuck in rush hour on the Bundesautobahn 9; especially if you had a car with a broken air conditioner or were on a motorcycle, seeing as the temperature was currently at an insanely hot 40°C. Unfortunately for Marcell Kirsch, he was one of the miserable bastards that the Universe had apparently chosen to experience such hell.

As the lines of cars continued to go nowhere fast, the young man was tempted to slam his head against the handlebars in frustration but stopped when he realized how face-burningly hot the metal undoubtedly was. Of course, to add to insult, his exit was at most a third a kilometer away.

_I could carry my bike there faster than this! Wait? Is that…?_

It was! A gap in traffic for him to squeeze into that formed a near perfect path to his exit!

Marcell was teary eyed with joy. _Thank you God!_ He exclaimed inwardly.

The young man quickly lined his bike up with the space between the cars, careful to not hit any of the numerous cars and trucks, most of which were loudly blaring their horns at the insane biker.

"Shut up assholes! You'd do it too if you could!" Of course; his yell was drowned out by the horns, but he figured it was the thought that counts.

Marcell beamed as he sped down the exit at what was probably an unsafe speed. Not that he would have cared had you pointed this out, mind you.

_Just five more minutes and I'll be back in the sweet embrace of air condition-_

A figure suddenly dashed across the road.

" **SHIT!"**

Marcell pulled on the brakes as hard as he could, the bike leaving skid marks on the asphalt and nearly throwing it's rider off as it screeched to a halt just in time.

The young man calmed down enough to partially calm his hyperventilating down to heavy panting, and began awkwardly climbing off his bike; his muscles still locked stiff from a potent shot of adrenaline.

"Um… Are you okay?"

Marcell slowly looked over to the speaker, containing his urge to assault the idiot for running in front of his bike.

The idiot in question was a boy. Marcell figured he must go to some weird ass private school. You almost never saw school uniforms like his around here, and definitely not in the middle of the summer.

"Kid, what in _the hell_ is wrong with you?" He shouted.

The boy recoiled back slightly, "S-sorry, I was in a rush."

"Well look both ways next time! For…" He trailed off and sighed as he shook his head in an attempt to calm down.

The boy was apparently worried by his silence, as he repeated his previous question; "You're okay right?"

Marcell nodded dismissively, "Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

The boy smiled; probably glad that Marcell wasn't as mad now, "I'm okay."

"Aren't you dying in those clothes kid?" Marcell rolled his bike over to the side of the road to inspect it, hoping that nothing had came jarred loose; it wasn't the greatest bike in all honesty.

There was no response.

The young man looked up to find that he was alone, only some shaking bushes on the opposite side of the road gave any evidence that there was once someone with him. His first thought was that someone had hit him with a car, but since nobody was crying bloody murder, it seemed that the boy had _quite rudely_ wandered off.

"Oh that-!" He paused "The little asshole ran away!"

He grumbled incoherently to himself for a few seconds, considering chasing after the kid through the shrubbery before he turned his attention back to his bike.

"Chiro, you are alright, correct?"

"Hmm?" Chiro tore his attention away from picking twigs and leaves out of his hair, looking down at his silver companion, "Yeah, I'm fine Antauri. Though that guy did have a point."

"Agreed." Antauri nodded sagely.

Otto wiped his brow, "Yeah I haven't felt this hot since um… What was that place with the five suns called again?"

"Soturix 7" replied Chiro, groaning slightly at the horrid memories.

Antauri sighed, "Actually I was referring to the fact that we should have looked both ways."

"Oh, um yeah, I guess so." Chiro nervously laughed.

Sprx smirked as he leaned against a wall, "C'mon Antauri, lighten up. You're acting like you're the kid's mom."

"Sprx I merely wish too-"

"You guys, come on." Everyone turned their attention to Nova, who was already slightly ahead of them. "We can't waste time; we have to find Gibson before Mandarin does." She said in an emotionless voice.

Otto was puzzled, "But uh, didn't we leave him back in Denver?"

Nova shook her head, "You know we're never that lucky Otto. He probably followed us here. Every second we waste, is time he'll be using to find and kill Gibson."

Before anyone could respond to this, Nova took off.

Chiro sighed as him and the rest of the monkeys followed, "I take it you guys didn't have any luck either."

"I am sorry Chiro, but whatever it is that happened, Nova refuses to talk about it," said Antauri. "I just hope that if we reunite the team in full, she will be calm enough to finally discuss it."

"C'mon you guys!" Nova exclaimed from up ahead, signaling them to speed up.

"You and me both, Antauri." Sprx mumbled

Marcell stretched in relief as he swung the dorm room door open, tossing his bag to the floor. "Finally! I am back party people!"

Gibson sat on his bed, looking up from his book at the disturbance, vexation in his eyes "Yes, because no party is complete without the irritating drunkard." He murmured.

Marcell frowned; not because of the insult, he was used to that. "Are you reading a _text_ book?" He asked, horrified.

"Yes."

" _Why?_ " The young man asked, incredulous.

"Well I don't have any assignments to work on right now, and there aren't any tests coming up so I don't need to study." He smiled and looked back down at the thick book, currently opened to a page filled with several equations and diagrams. "To be honest I've been absolutely fascinated by the Lotka–Volterra equations, even though that's not really the area of biologica-"

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Marcell was waving his hands in refusal, "So what you're saying is, is that you're reading your textbook _for fun._ "

Gibson tilted his head in confusion, "Well yes I suppose soooOWAAH!" He was suddenly yanked up off his bed.

Marcell began to drag Gibson to the door; despite the blonde's struggling, "Gibson, I'm doing this for your own good. You're going out partying with me tonight and that's final."

"Marcell this is -nnhh- ridiculous!" He grunted as he tried to free his wrist from his roommates iron grip.

"No, _this_ is an intervention!" Marcell yelled as he pulled his fellow pupil into the hallway. "In the three months I've known you, I've never seen you do anything that could be described by a sane person as fun. That changes _tonight_! As your roommate it is my solemn _duty_ to get you a life!"

Gibson continued to beat his free fist against his roommate's grasping arm, "Have you gone insane?"

The people staring at them as they went down the hallway certainly thought so, judging by the looks they were giving the two.

"No; but if I have, it was watching you waste your college life away that drove me to it!" The 19 year old yelled overdramatically.

It was at around this point, that Gibson remembered the time Marcell had mentioned his stint in drama club while in secondary school. _He apparently forgot to mention that he was hammier than a sty._

Gibson continued to struggle as they exited the building, the glass door closing behind them. "Where are we even going? And would you let go of me?"

"Promise to come to the party with me?"

Gibson rolled his eyes. "First you'll tell me where we're going before I say anything else!"

Marcell let go of the other's arm, grinning like an idiot at having broken down his bespectacled roommate. "There's a nightclub two blocks from here. They're having a big grand opening party and admission's free."

"A nightclub?"

"Yeah, ya' know; dancing, drinks, lots of sexy ladies!" Marcell felt the need to add hip thrusting to emphasize the last point for some reason.

Gibson raised an eyebrow, "Right…"

 _Why in the world does he think I would be interested in any of that?_ He mused, _Dancing and romantic relationships only serve as distractions to finishing college, and drinking would… Wait just a moment!_

Gibson smirked devilishly; something that Marcell noticed, and was creeped out by it instantly. "What's with that smile?"

"I have a proposition for you Marcell, my good man." Gibson said smarmily, "I promise to not only go to this party; but to also dance for at least five minutes, and drink an alcoholic beverage."

Marcell's mouth was agape, "Whoa seriously? I mean that's… Wait what's the catch?"

"The catch?" Gibson asked in fake surprise, "Oh nothing much, you're just not allowed to drink any kind of alcohol tonight."

_And I know you'll never do that._

"Deal!"

"What?" Gibson asked, completely flat in tone.

Marcell smirked, "You really think I can't control myself for one night?" He jabbed Gibson's chest with his finger, "Shame on you Gibson, to think so poorly of your friend. Besides, I'd give up drinking for a month if it a meant a chance to see you drunk."

Gibson began to sputter "B-b-b-but you-"

Marcell quickly cut him off, "Come on now Gibson, we don't want to be late do we?" And with that, the 19 year old turned around and made his way to the campus exit, Gibson reluctantly following.


	19. Die Flasche

  
**TIME:** 19:39 UTC+1

Gibson looked around the nightclub, grimacing at the numerous spasmodic, half-dressed, and boisterous twenty-somethings that were periodically lit by the lights that streamed across and around the room. To think that this sort of social scene was considered part of human culture disgusted him in every sense, and, what was more, he was beginning - no, he _did_ regret ever allowing Marcel to drag him here against his wishes.

"I despise you," Gibson muttered as he looked over at Marcel, standing at his side with what most would describe as the polar opposite expression as Gibson's.

The young man turned towards him, a grin still affixed to his face. "WHAT?" he yelled. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

Gibson's eyebrow twitched as he mentally restrained the part of him that wanted to disembowel his roommate. "I said: 'I despise you'! And you don't have to yell _that_ loudly."

"Oh!" Marcel continued to grin despite Gibson's pestering. If anything it grew larger. "Well, that's nice! Now let's go!"

Gibson groaned as his roommate more or less dragged him over to the bar.

"C'mon, Gibson, we had a deal," Marcel smirked. "And if you don't follow through, I'll make the rest of your time at the university a living hell."

"More so than you already have?"

"Trust me, I can make it _much_ worse, especially if you don't change that attitude of yours!" he emphasized the last sentence by jabbing his finger into Gibson's chest. "Here I am being a good friend by bringing you out for a night on the town, and you thank me by being a stick in the mud!"

The blond smiled mockingly. "Yes, your generosity is just _infinite_ , isn't it?"

"You got that right!" Marcel patted his roommate on the back.

Gibson flinched. "Not so hard."

The brunet rolled his eyes. "Oh don't be such a puss - hello..." Mid-roll, Marcel had spotted something vaguely familiar amongst the collection of bottles lining the wall behind the bar. "What do we have here?"

"What are you talking about?" Gibson tried to spot what the other young man was staring at.

Marcel summoned the nearest bartender. "Excuse me!"

A busty brunette that Gibson imagined was hired more for appeal to the male patrons, and less for bartending prowess, walked over towards the two.

"What can I do for you sirs?" she asked, smiling suggestively.

Gibson could tell that Marcel was doing everything he could not to overtly stare at the woman's breasts. _Idiot. Its times like this that I wish someone would just punch him._

Somehow, Marcel was able to restrain himself from ogling, and instead pointed behind the woman to a bottle on the back bar. "How much for two glasses?"

"Ah..." she smiled, grabbing a bottle with a pale beige label."You have very good taste. Lucky for you, because it's the grand opening, the first drink is free."

Marcel smiled. "Great!"

"Coming right up then." The woman turned back around and began to pour the drinks.

Marcel looked back over at his roommate. "What?"

Gibson was staring at his companion with murder in his eyes. "You didn't even let me _choose_!"

Marcel rolled his eyes. "Oh relax." His attention returned to the woman who was now placing their drinks in front of them. He grinned widely. "Thank you."

The woman nodded and went off to serve more patrons.

Gibson motioned at his drink. "Why did you order for me, you arrogant buffoon? Knowing you, you've probably gotten us some kind of drink that's over 50% alcohol by volume!"

Marcel scoffed. "For God's sake calm down; I got you my first drink."

"What?" Gibson was confused.

Marcel held the glass up to the light. "Williamsbirne, I found an opened bottle of it in my parent's liquor cabinet when I was 13." He smirked and looked over at Gibson. "My parents later found out and grounded me for a month, but it was worth it."

"You were _13_?" Gibson asked in a very 'Why am I not surprised?' manner.

Marcel laughed. "Yup! I never was the sharpest tack, huh?"

Gibson sighed, although it was obvious that he was more accepting of the situation than before. "What is it exactly?"

"Pear schnapps. It's sweet so you don't really taste the alcohol. Perfect for a first timer."

Gibson raised an eyebrow, "So now you're trying to convert me?"

"Well, I'll admit I wouldn't mind having a drinking partner that isn't an idiot."

Gibson rolled his eyes as he took a tentative sip. He winced and set the glass down. _It burns a little bit, but he's right, it's bearable. I suppose I should be grateful; he could have had me drink something far worse._

Marcel took a much larger sip before setting his glass down. "Also, girls do sometimes like the brainy types, so having you as a wingman wouldn't be too bad I guess."

"That's what your life is all about, isn't it, Marcel? Women. Alcohol and women."

"Hey man, lighten up, this is college we're talking about; the best years of our life and all that shit. Hell, you could use a girlfriend yourself, you know."

"No, thank you," Gibson muttered into his glass.

"Aw, c'mon man! Some of the girls I know just _love_ the brainy types like yourself, I could set you up."

"No. Thank You."

"Why not? Are you worried that I'd play a prank on you with this? Because even I'm not that cruel."

Gibson set his glass down with a loud 'chink.' "Look, I'm not interested in any girls you could set me up with! Or any other women, for that matter!"

Marcel looked down in shame. "Oh..." He sat in awkward silence for a few seconds. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were gay."

"I'm not gay!"

"But you just said-"

"I know what I just said!"

Marcel tilted his head in confusion. "So you're _bi_?" He shook his head. "But no you said you weren't interested in girls..."

"Listen, I'm not interested in _anybody! At all._ "

Understanding slowly appeared on Marcel's face. "Oh..." More awkward silence ensued. "So you've never...you know..."

"No, I've never felt any lust or romantic feelings towards anyone."

Marcel glanced over at his roommate. "That must suck."

Gibson smiled as he stared at his glass, a small hint of sadness in the gesture. "I wouldn't know. I have nothing to compare it too."

"Hey." Marcel picked his glass back up and held it out. Gibson looked over at him. "Cheers."

Gibson smirked and picked his glass up as well, "Cheers."

* * *

"You guys, _stop_!"

"What is it Chiro?" Otto turned around, careful not to step on any of the broken glass in the alley.

"We're getting really close. He should be somewhere nearby." Chiro looked about the alley to see if there were any signs of their last teammate.

"Something tells me Gibson won't be hanging around a back alley, Chiro," said Nova.

Antauri nodded. "We should search the nearby buildings, but remember to be stealthy. We can not allow ourselves to be caught. The last thing we need right now is a commotion."

Sprx descended from the rooftops he had been scaling. "Yeah, well we can already skip that building." He pointed to a building further down the alley where several people had congregated in back, smoking.

"Why?" asked Chiro

Sprx smirked, "That's a bar, kid. No way Gibson would ever be caught dead there, trust me."

Chiro was still confused, but decided to leave it at that. "All right team, let's spread out and find Gibson."

* * *

  
**LOCATION:** Franz Josef Strauss Airport  
 **TIME:** 20:23 UTC+1

The sun had finally set as the 767's cargo hold was opened up, gradually allowing the warm light to cast over the supplies.

Steffan Weber sighed as he overlooked it. "I really hate the night shift."

"Really?" Deadpanned his coworker, Erik. "Because I didn't hear you the last twenty times."

"Shut up," He looked for a few seconds more before sighing. "Figures, the lights in the cargo holds always need to be replaced. I'll go get the flashlights from the baggage tractor."

Erik jumped up into the hold. "I'll start getting the bags by the entrance."

"Yeah, sure."

Steffan wandered back to the baggage tractor. He had to dig around for the flashlights; as _usual_ , Erik hadn't put them in their intended spots. When he returned, Erik was no where in sight. Perhaps he'd snuck off to catch a smoke.

"Hey, Erik, I've got them!" Steffan called.

There was no response. It was then that Steffan noticed that there weren't any bags on the baggage train.

"Erik? Are you taking another smoke break?"

There was a thud on the inside of the cargo hold.

"Erik?" Steffan's heart began to speed up.

Steffan climbed up into cargo hold, shinning the light towards where the noise had came from. In the middle of two stacks of bags, one bag was lying on the ground.

Steffan smiled to himself. "It was just a bag, you idiot." He turned around to check the other side of the hold. "Okay, Erik, come on out, we've gotta...AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

On the other side of the hold, Erik's blood soaked body was illuminated by the flashlight.

"Oh God! Oh God! Oh G -" Steffan looked down at his chest, where there was now a blood covered blade sticking out.

Steffan couldn't scream or breathe, and was in such pure shock he felt no pain. The blade was quickly retracted from his body, causing him to stumble forward. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Mandarin emerged from the back of the hold, laughing as the human's blood began to pool. "Very good job."

"Thank you, Master." A dark figure standing by the man's body smiled broadly.

Mandarin jumped out of the hold, looking around in disgust at the human establishment he had found himself in. He set his eyes on the city in the distance. "Come now, boy. I think it's time I introduce you to the rest of my team."


	20. Du Flasche

 

  
**TIME:** 07:45 UTC+12  
 **LOCATION:** Wellington, New Zealand

_Ugh… Why is my bed so lumpy?_

Hyun Jae squirmed to try and get rid of the uncomfortable feeling.

_Wait… I'm still in my clothes._

The Korean woman opened her eyes and looked around in shock for a few moments before her memories of the previous day returned.

_Right…_

Hyun Jae rose from the sofa she had slept on and slowly trudged into the shop's kitchenette, still wearing the clothes she had on yesterday.

"Good morning." A flat voice greeted her.

Hyun Jae quickly swiveled her head to see who it was. She was greeted by the image of …Jeff was it? sitting at a small table drinking what appeared to be coffee.

Hyun Jae was still too tired to be mentally translating people talking to her in another language out of nowhere, so she simply settled for a "hello" and hoped that it fit.

There was an awkward silence for the next few seconds, which Hyun Jae wasn't sure was due to a mistake in her English or the situation that had occurred last night.

Either way, Jeff broke the silence with an uncomfortable shrug and pointing at his mug. "Do you want some?"

Hyun Jae took a second to process the request before shaking her head. "Ah, no but thank you. I do not drink coffee."

"Oh um…" Jeff got up and looked about the kitchenette, not that there was much to see from Hyun Jae's point of view; just a stove top, a mini fridge, and a small counter with various containers strewn about that Jeff seemed to be searching through. "We have tea bags somewhere if that's your thing."

Hyun Jae was unable to understand the latter part of the sentence, but she didn't have to. "No, that is okay. I do not drink tea. I try to not have caffine."

"Well good for you, Lord knows I need the stuff now. I didn't get any sleep last night."

"Is she still in the room?"

"Last time I checked," Jeff took a sip of the dark brew before sighing. "Not that I think it matters. I mean, do you really think we could keep her here, if she didn't want to be here?"

Hyun Jae cast her gaze to the floor, _He's right. After what she showed us last night… probably nothing short of calling in a SWAT team would be able to stop her; and by the time they got here she'd be long gone anyway._

"How do you think she sleeps?" Jeff changed the subject. "Or why, for that matter?"

"Maybe she fakes it," Hyun Jae suggested.

"She's a damn good actor then," He shook his head. "She looked exactly like Ally does when she sleeps."

"Where is your sister?"

"We have an apartment two blocks from here; she went back there to sleep."

"Um, hello."

The two quickly looked over at the entrance to the kitchenette. Standing beneath the arch awkwardly stood Jinmay, her hair still askew from her nap.

Hyun Jae sighed, partially in relief and partially in regret, and switched back to Korean. "So how much did you hear?"

"I really do sleep you know, or at least something like it," said Jinmay. "Whoever made me, they made me as realistic as possible."

 _Except for the pink hair and your skin turning chrome at will,_ Hyun Jae mentally added.

"You mean you don't know who made you?" Jeff asked.

"No," Jinmay averted her gaze.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the bell rang from the front of the shop, stopping another instance of awkward silence.

Jinmay looked back towards the store front momentarily, and then moved into the kitchenette so that she was no longer blocking the entrance.

Two seconds later Ally was standing where the pink haired girl had stood. "Hey guys."

"Hey, Ally."

"Hello," Hyun Jae nodded.

"Hi" Jinmay said meekly, barely raising her gaze to look at Ally.

"Sorry it took me so long," Ally said in an oddly cheerful tone.

Jeff raised an eyebrow. "You're awfully chipper. You… do remember what happened last night, right?"

"Yeah, my bags are back at the apartment. I didn't wanna lug them here."

Hyun Jae was mystified. _I must have heard her wrong. I mean, my English isn't all that great._

"Ally, what in the hell are you talking about?" Jeff asked

…Or maybe her English was fine.

"Um, well we're going after Otto with her, duh," Ally stated as if it was as obvious as the sky being blue.

"Really?" Jinmay exclaimed joyfully.

"Well, yeah, Otto's my best friend."

Jinmay seemed just about ready to hug Ally before Jeff intervened.

"Hold it! Hold it!" The bald man exclaimed. "Ally, did you forget that this girl that you're talking to is an alien robot? And that's if she's telling the truth and isn't part of some kind of government conspiracy of something. I mean, everything we thought we knew about Otto is a lie."

"Oh shut up!" Ally snapped. "'Everything we thought we knew is a lie?' Jeff we didn't know anything about Otto in the first place! And besides, I think this makes a lot of sense."

Her older brother facepalmed. "A lot of - ? Ally do you have any idea what all of this means? This isn't just some adventure for you to go on like in those cartoons you watch! This is something for the military, not a twelve year old girl!"

"Why are you being so mean?" Ally shouted. "I've already thought about this all night so it's not like I'm rushing into this."

Jeff slowly collapsed into his seat and began kneading his forehead. "God, I should've made my coffee Irish this morning."

"But Ally, I don't where they are," Jinmay interrupted.

Reality seemed to catch up with the young girl. "Oh… right." She shook her head, almost as if that would change the facts, and looked at her brother. "But we have to find them! C'mon, Jeff, who knows what trouble Otto might be getting into!"

"Ally - " Jeff started. He was suddenly cut off by a loud ringing noise.

Hyun Jae quickly fished her phone out of her pocket. "Sorry." She flipped open the cell and put it to her ear. "This better be important, Jin Sang!"

"Um… yes. Did I interrupt something?"

Hyun Jae quickly peeked up at the three other occupants of the room before diverting her gaze. "I'll tell you later. Now what is it?"

"Well I'm pretty sure I've found another case but… it doesn't look to good," Jin Sang sighed.

"What do you mean, not good?" she said apprehensively.

"What I mean is that we have one girl named Nova missing who fits the same profile as Antauri and this Otto kid, as well as one girl with a concussion, one boy dead, but the corpse is missing, and one dead police officer."

* * *

 

  
**TIME:** 20:00 UTC +1  
 **LOCATION:** Munich, Germany

Gibson looked about the club, staring at the various flashing lights and gyrating bodies and wondered if Marcel would let him leave. After all they were both two-thirds of the way done with their drinks so -

"Wait just a moment!" The blonde exclaimed.

Marcel, who was just about to take another sip, looked over. "What?"

Gibson pointed at the cup Marcel was holding. "You're drinking!"

"…And?"

"Our _promise_?" Gibson reminded him.

It took several seconds for Marcel to process the statement. "Oh, right! I guess we both kinda forgot about that, huh?"

"Well, now I've remembered, put the drink down."

"Fine, you can have it," Marcel placed the glass in front of Gibson.

Gibson looked at the blonde with disdain, "How stupid do you think I am? I know what you're trying to do."

Marcel grinned impishly. "Is it working?"

"No! *hiccup*"

"Aha! It is!"

Gibson growled in annoyance. "Please the hiccu - *hiccup* The hiccups are caused by a spasming diaphragm, which itself is caused *hiccup* by an irregular air intake. Something much more likely caused by arguing with you than *hiccup* inebriation!"

Marcel could hardly stop himself from bursting out in laughter. "Whatever you say."

"That's it I'm leaving!" Gibson stood up and quickly made his way to the exit.

"Gibson, wait!"

Gibson, of course, paid no heed, and he was soon outside, where a shower had begun.

"Well, this is just fantastic." He muttered beneath the bar's awning, standing away from the two bouncers at the entrance.

He was soon joined by Marcel when he exited the building. "For god's sake Gibson lighten up. I was just having fun."

Gibson whipped around to glare at his roommate. "How many times do I have to tell you? Your idea of fun and my idea of fun are two completely different things, Sprx!"

Marcel tilted his head. "What did you call me?"

"What?" Gibson asked, still perturbed.

"You called me Sprx again."

"I… did?"

"Yeah."

Gibson became silent, bringing a silent gaze up towards the clouds.

Marcel, beginning to worry after about a minute of silence, decided to interrupt. "Gibson?"

Gibson took a few moments to respond, never taking his gaze away from the increasingly darker clouds. "Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

Gibson slowly looked at Marcel. "I'm not sure."


	21. Blau

  
**TIME:** 20:10 UTC+1  
 **LOCATION:** Munich, Germany

_What does all of this mean? Why is it that when I look at Marxs… no wait. What? Something's wrong, but it's all so blurry._

"GIBSON!"

The young man turned around. His eyes slowly focused and sought out the source of the noise. His roommate was running towards him, ignoring the rain that was slowly picking up around them.

"Would you watch where you're going!"

"What?" Gibson muttered.

Marcel jabbed his finger in the direction opposite of where Gibson's facing. "You almost walked into the fucking street, that's what!"

Gibson glanced behind him, confirming that he had in fact been about to step off the curb into the heavy traffic. "Ah, sorry." He stated mutedly.

"Gibson are you alright?" asked Marcel. "I mean, do you want to go to the hospital or something? You've gotten worse since we left the bar."

"No I'm fine," Gibson shook his head dismissively. "It's probably just that the alcohol you forced me to metabolize is now starting to drin - I mean the alcohol you forced me to drink is now starting to metabolize."

"Well, if you say so, but we should head back," Marcel shielded his eyes as he looked upwards at the dark sky. "This rain looks like it's gonna get worse."

"No."

"What?" Marcel said flatly, having finally reached his mental breaking point.

Gibson was staring at the nearby bus stop; the tinted glass encased structure housed only two inhabitants. "I need to know. I don't know why, but I think I might be able to find the answers there."

" _What_ answers? Where?"

A bus pulled into the station, the LED board on the top-front of the vehicle blinking 'Olympiapark'. Gibson smiled weakly and made his way forward.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Marcel moved to grab Gibson's arm, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Gibson began to climb the bus' steps.

"Oh for fuck's sake! Gibson!" Marcel ran towards the boarded the bus, hoping he wasn't going to regret this.

* * *

_Where is that monkey?_ Sprx remarked to himself as he scanned the glistening street from the rooftops, hoping to spot his teammate.

"Remember, even without mastery of the Power Primate, you should be able to tell it is him at first glance Sprx."

Sprx rolled his eyes as looked over his shoulder at his silver companion, who was currently meditating, apparently trying to locate Gibson's 'aura' or something like that, Sprx had never given much mind to any of the spiritual junk Antauri constantly spewed.

"I heard you the first time Antauri," he snapped

The silver monkey opened his eyes. "I was just making sure, Sprx. You have been very consumed by Nova's...behavior."

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Sprx swung back around to watch the street, avoiding the other's judging gaze. "Pretend that everything's just sunshine and lollipops?"

"No, but I think that worrying so much will do more harm than good."

Sprx snorted. "Yeah? Well…" Sprx trailed off as his eyes locked onto a blonde man who was standing on the street corner as another man, same age, argued with him as both were soaked.

"You found Gibson?"

Sprx nodded without bothering to look back. "I think so at least."

_Finally, it's almost all over._

It was then that the blonde decided to quickly walk away from the corner and board a bus.

"Oh, come on!" Sprx exclaimed to Antauri's confusion.

* * *

  
**TIME:** 14:50UTC+12  
 **LOCATION:** Wellington, New Zealand

"No."

"But - !"

"No."

"But I - !"

"No! We are not flying all the way out to _Denver_ with some robot and a random Korean girl while leaving mom behind, and that's final." Jeff crossed his arms in an attempt to further emphasize the _not-ness_ of the situation to his obstinate sister.

Ally of course, ignored her brother's arguments. "But this is Otto we're talking about!"

The brother and sister had retreated to the small, somewhat dingy, apartment that they owned down the street, partially to convince the other to pack/unpack, but mostly because Jeff didn't want his little sister near the potentially deadly robot. So far, neither had made much progress convincing the other sibling to stay/go.

"Ally, mum's getting out of the hospital in just _two days_. How do you think she'll end up if she comes home to find us missing?

"We could tell her," Ally suggested. "She'd understand."

Had Jeff been drinking, he would have done a spit-take. "Understand! Understand that Otto - the weird kid that worked for us for about four months - is an alien?" He waved his arms about dramatically. "Understand that we have to fly to America to rescue him from some other aliens? With a robot and Korean girl that dropped into our shop out of nowhere? Yes, you're right, mum will be totally understanding."

"Well when you say it like that-"

"Like what?" Jeff cut her off. "A sane person?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room for several moments, during which Ally diverted her gaze downward, trying to escape that of her brother's.

Jeff realized he might have taken it a bit too far, the young man placed a hand on his sister's shoulder and sighed sadly. "Ally, you know we can't leave mom."

Ally didn't look up, and instead closed in on herself further.

"Look, Ally, we'd only get in their way! I mean Hyun Jae says she's loaded and has been training to be a police officer, and - well Jinmay's a freaking robot."

Ally didn't respond, instead opting after several seconds of worried silence to turn around and return to her room.

"Ally, wait!" Jeff exclaimed.

Ally, of course, did not wait, and slammed her door behind her.

Jeff sighed dejectedly and decided not to pursue the matter further, figuring that this was actually a fairly calm outcome, all things considered.

* * *

Hyun Jae huffed as she sat plopped down on the bus stop bench next to the bubblegum haired android.

"So they're not coming?" Jinmay asked.

"Nope." The other responded resolutely. "Good thing too, really."

"What? Why?" Jinmay was confused and slightly disturbed by the other girl's casual disregard. After all the more help the better right?

"Because I'm not _that_ rich," Hyun Jae elaborated. "I mean if we _really_ needed to, I could, but I'd rather not shuttle several people around the globe."

"I…guess I can't argue with that," Jinmay sighed.

Hyun Jae nodded then looked up. "Here comes the bus to the airport."

"Um… what exactly is an airport?" Jinmay asked

Hyun Jae froze for a moment, before facepalming in terror. "Okay I just now realized how much more complicated this is gonna get with you involved."

"Well, we can talk about it on the way right?" Jinmay pulled the girl by her arm into the bus.

Hyun Jae gave a very insincere and panicked smile. "Yeah, yeah, we can talk, sure." A small, slightly hysterical giggle slipped past her lips.

* * *

Jeff picked up the bowl of ice cream he had prepared and made his way towards his sister's door.

He knocked on the wooden doorframe. "Hey Ally, I've got a bowl of chocolate ice cream with the works!"

No response. He frowned.

"Look Ally, I know you're upset, but brooding in your room is only gonna make it worse."

Still nothing. "Ally, I'm coming in, okay?"

Jeff entered the room, scanning it for its owner.

"Ally I-" He froze.

The window was open.

* * *

As the bus containing Hyun Jae and Jinmay pulled away from the stop approximately three blocks from the apartment, a very faint noise could be heard. It was the sound of a name. 'Ally' was being shouted to kingdom come, but there was no one nearby to answer to the call.

Ally crouched further down in her seat, and as she tried to remain out of the field of view of the two she was trailing, she could only think: _I am_ so _fucked when I get home._


	22. Vorwarnung

  
**TIME:** 20:20 UTC+1  
 **LOCATION:** Munich, Germany

"Nova!"

Nova stopped peeking through the foggy window upon hearing Sprx shout her name and looked over her shoulder.

"What?" She hissed, conveying her anger while trying to remain quiet as to not alert any humans nearby. "Aren't you supposed to be with Antauri?"

The red simian sauntered forwards. "Yeah, but he's off trying to keep up with Gibson. We spotted the moron and I have to get you, Otto, and Chiro." The red monkey then peered at the window behind Nova and smirked. "Oh my, are we being a little voyeuristic now? I didn't know that was your thing!"

"Yeah, whatever," Nova leapt off the trash can she had been spying from.

Sprx's grin disappeared and he stood frozen in bewilderment as Nova passed by. He snapped out of his trance and grabbed her shoulder.

"Okay!" he spun her around so they were face to face. "What the hell happened to you?"

Nova shoved Sprx's arm off. "Nothing, we're going."

Sprx grabbed Nova's hand and stopped her with a sharp tug. "No! I tell a stupid-ass joke and then you beat the crap out of me, that's been our thing from the start, no matter what. Now, I am not leaving until you tell me what's going on." He sighed and slackened his grip. "Look we've all been through some crazy stuff on this planet, Nova, I know how it is; I didn't wanna leave my friend behind either."

Nova mumbled angrily and shook.

"What?" Sprx asked.

Nova suddenly slammed Sprx against the building, holding him by the throat with one hand and activating her fist in the other.

"I _said_ ," she hissed. "'What the fuck would you know!'"

Sprx stood completely still, not attempting to struggle against his teammates grip; his eyes were wide open.

"Nova," he whispered, astonished.

Nova slowly withdrew and shook her head in refusal, disgust and horror on her face. "No, no I'm… I'm doing exactly what he wants me to do."

"Nova… what happened?"

"Look we'll… we've got to go get Gibson." Nova quickly turned and began to make her way down the dim alley.

"No!" Sprx shouted, stomping his foot, splashing droplets across his fur. "No, screw that! I am tired of pretending that you aren't about two steps away from going off the freakin' deep end! We are not moving from this spot until you tell me what in Shuggazoom's name is going on!"

Nova hung her head, gazing solemnly at her muddied feet. "We have to find Gibson."

"NO!" Sprx exclaimed again. "Gibson can wait! I-"

"No, he can't!" Nova interjected. Her shoulders noticeably sunk, "You know that we can't take that chance, Sprx."

The two stood silent for a few moments, surrounded by the muffled noises of the buildings and the patter of rain upon asphalt.

Nova looked up at Sprx, a sad smile upon her face. "I promise I'll… talk about it after this, okay?"

Sprx glared at her for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Fine. But I'm holding you to that."

* * *

"This is insane." Marcel was resting his head on the back of his seat, as the bus continued down the street.

"Mhm." Gibson offhandedly murmured. He gripped the cold steel railing tightly, surveying the immediate area with distracted interest.

Marcel lifted his head up, looking over at Gibson with a tired smirk; "I mean doing this kind of…" he waved his hand about, "stuff, is my job. At the very least you're supposed to be the more level headed one here; or did you not get that memo?"

"Mhm."

"Are you sure you just didn't have too much to drink?" asked Marcel. "I mean, this could be your first time for all you know, right?"

Gibson continued to stare off into space and this time didn't even pretend to answer.

Marcel looked about the bus, its gray seats all occupied by a menagerie of people, and was somewhat relieved that at least none of the other bus occupants seemed to notice his roommate's strange behavior.

"Next Stop: Olympiapark." A crisp, feminine voice sounded over the intercom, repeating itself in English.

The bus slowed to a stop at the Olympiapark station, although with the rain beginning to obscure the view and his spaced out roommate taking up most of his attention, it could have been the Gates of Hell and Marcel wouldn't have noticed.

_Hopefully all this bullshit will be over soon._

Gibson quickly made his way off the bus, Marcel following him. He was somewhat relieved to see that no one was getting off at the stop along with them; but as the brunet college student stepped off the bus, he began to seriously wish he had brought an umbrella.

_Or at least a jacket,_ he mused, quickly ducking under the protection of the bus stop. _I know they said there would be a storm tonight, but this is ridiculous._

He looked over to see his blonde roommate, similarly drenched, staring at a map of the park posted inside the stop.

"What? Are your mystical powers weakened by torrential rain?" Marcel asked snidely, silently hoping that his friend's trip was just about over.

Gibson continued to peruse the map. "I'm trying to find the quickest path."

Marcel threw his hands up in defeat, "Fine, whatever! Just as long as we get this over with."

Gibson made a noncommittal, "mhm", stopped looking at the map, and began to exit the shelter of the glass and metal overhang.

Marcel followed, trying his best to shield his face from the downpour that Gibson didn't even seem to notice.

They entered the park and made their way down a path lined by lampposts, illuminating their way with a warm glow. Marcel imagined that if it were not pouring, he actually might have found the experience enjoyable.

They continued on for about two minutes before Gibson turned onto a smaller path. Marcel swore that he had taken this way before.

"Wait a sec, are we headed towards the communication tower?" Marcel inquired.

Gibson shook his head as they passed by a small patch of trees. "It's nearby though."

"Wait, nearby there or nearby here?"

Gibson continued along the asphalt path silently.

* * *

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous."

Even Otto had to agree with Sprx's statement, over the last 15 minutes the three of them had covered all of two blocks, and now they were stuck staring at a wide avenue that seemed to mock their very existence.

According to Sprx, Antauri had somehow leapt atop the bus Gibson boarded without having any passersby notice him, intending to trail their remaining member, as the red monkey gathered the other three.

Chiro had run ahead after quickly consulting a map, not having to worry about being spotted like his three simian companions.

Otto, Nova, and Sprx however, were forced to stick to alleyways and rooftops, as even in the heavy rain in the middle of the night, there were too many people for them to risk taking to the streets.

"Um… we could go across the power lines." Said Nova, not really sure herself.

Sprx scoffed. "Look, I may not be an expert about this stuff, but trying to cross power lines in a thunder storm is _probably_ a bad idea…Maybe we could try leaping across using the street lights."

"No way," Nova shook her head. "They're hard enough to climb when they're dry. If we try now we'll just slide off."

"Maybe we could throw a rope across!" Otto suggested, suddenly struck by inspiration.

Sprx didn't even bother to look over, still trying to think of a solution, "We don't have a rope and that only works if someone is on the other side to catch it."

"Oh yeah," Otto frowned in dismay. "Do you guys have any other ideas?"

"We could try and find a way around," Sprx suggested, looking up and down the rain-slicked avenue.

Nova sighed as she realized that this was probably their only option. "This is gonna take a while."


	23. Sturm und Drang

 

  
**TIME:** 21:00 UTC+1  
 **LOCATION** : Munich, Germany

The rain continued to splash upon the blacktop, beginning to collect in large puddles that one could easily find soaked to the ankle. Such was the situation Marcel was in as he followed his friend onto the footbridge running over one of the park's streams.

He looked down at his soaked foot in disgust, the water soaking all the way through to his socks. "You do realize that if this turns out to be nothing, I'm going to kill you."

"It was this one," Gibson stopped in front of one of the bridges benches, staring down at it.

Marcel looked down at the wooden construct; it looked like any other park bench: four planks of nondescript wood, oak maybe, which had been lacquered against the rain, made up the seat.

"Huh, I always thought it would be a little more… special."

He looked back at his roommate, whose gaze had moved towards the opposite end of the bridge, which was shrouded in darkness. The blonde's posture had suddenly become tense, a sharp contrast to his behavior for the previous hour.

"What is it?"

Gibson stepped in front of his roommate in what the latter swore was a defensive pose. "Someone's here."

At the end of the bridge a previously hidden figure stepped into the light of the lamps. Marcel estimated that they were about 160 centimeters; he couldn't really tell much else about them though, their face was enshrouded by the hood of a black hoodie, itself accompanied by matching black jeans.

_Great, just what we need, a mugger._

"Listen buddy," Marcel stepped forwards, "we're not looking for trouble. There are two of us, and one of you; just be smart and leave to mug someone else."

Gibson didn't move from the spot, if anything becoming tenser. "That's not a mugger."

"What?"

The figure removed his hands from the hoodie's large central pocket.

"Oh _shit_."

The 'hands' looked bestial, long sharp claws protruding out; and Marcel immediately knew what the red substance covering them was.

* * *

_C'mon guys, hurry up._

Chiro quickly dashed across the grass, trying his best not to slip upon the slick surface. He had finally reached the park, and was now making his way towards where Antauri was, hoping that the silver monkey had finally reached their teammate.

He knew at this rate it would likely only be him and Antauri to be there for Gibson, but he was still hoping that Sprx, Nova, and Otto would be able to catch up with him quickly in case there would be a need to fight.

He figured that he and Antauri would be able to manage though, it was ultimately two against one after all.

* * *

"Hello brother."

"Come down from the tree Mandarin and fight me!" Antauri narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

The orange monster cackled. "Why, are you still sore about being killed? Honestly it wasn't my fault you got in the way."

"This is not about such a simple feud and you know that. Ever since you betrayed the team, this has been about the battle of good and evil."

"I never betrayed anyone!" Mandarin snarled. "You all betrayed me!" The snarl slowly shifted into something more sinister. "But that's beside the point, shouldn't you be looking for our blue brother?"

"I will as soon as I defeat you."

"Oh really? Are you sure about that? If you take that long, all you'll find is a corpse."

"What are you talking about?" It was at that instance that Antauri remembered, Mandarin could still summon and control Formless. True it was only a small number of them at a time, but most humans couldn't handle one.

Mandarin jumped down from the tree, grinning like a madman. "You know what? I've changed my mind Antauri; you're right, we should fight."

Antauri glared at his former teammate who only snickered in return. "I wonder how long Gibson will last? Somehow I doubt it will be long enough for you to reach him."

* * *

Run. That was all that Marcel's body screamed at him, but he was frozen stiff, afraid what might happen if he so much as flinched under the stare of the… thing.

None of the three had moved an inch in the last minute; all were waiting for the other party to make the first move.

It was apparently Gibson that first ran out of patience with the situation. "Who are you?"

All that could be heard was the patter of the rain at first, but slowly Marcel began to hear something over the rain that was growing louder. Laughter.

Although this alone would have frightened Marcel enough, it was made worse by the fact that it wasn't plain laughter, nor was it even overly sinister. Instead, the figure across the bridge was giggling like a child and this was its favorite game in the world.

All of this in spite of the blood stained claws, which looked ready to stab him through the chest.

 _This thing is insane._ Marcel took a shaky step backwards.

The thing dashed forward.

Marcel stumbled backwards, as he tried to avoid the lunge from the insane monster that decided it wanted his, and his roommate's blood.

He barely got out of the way; he could feel pricks against his skin where the claws had touched his skin, piercing through his clothes. _How sharp are those things?_

Gibson meanwhile, was trying to grab the things attention, instead of being sensible and running away. _Don't play hero, idiot! You'll get yourself killed!_

It was at this point that Gibson nearly froze in place, looking at something behind Marcel.

"Gibson!"

Marcel swung his head around to look at the distraction; it was a young boy, about 13 or so, dressed in a bizarre whit outfit and wearing face markings.

Unfortunately, while Marcel and Gibson found the appearance of said boy very distracting, the monster wasn't so distracted.

"AHH!"

Marcel was horrified; the thing had sunk all five blades straight into Gibson's shoulder, who was now struggling with the monster while pinned against the railing.

"Get off of him!" Marcel charged forward, slamming against the monster.

This caused the claws to tear out of Gibson's shoulder; blood flew and began to spew out of the wound at an alarming rate.

As the boy somehow fought the monster more effectively than either of them had managed, Gibson tumbled backwards, over the railing and into the stream

"Gibson!" Marcel sprung to his feet, dashed to the railing, and quickly swung over the railing, after his injured roommate.

He plunged into the cool stream feet first, hitting the bottom before the water was even up to his chest. The brunet stumbled; fairly certain he had sprained his ankle, having expected the stream to be deeper. But there was no time to worry about that, he had to find his roommate.

"Gibson!" There was no response as he looked about for the blonde, finding it nearly impossible to make anything out in the dark waters with the rain churning it. After a few seconds of searching he spotted something sticking out of the water.

He waded over to the patch of lower reflectivity, cursing as his ankle sent out shots of pain with every step. As he got close he saw that it was Gibson's shoe, figuring that this was the best place to start he plunged his arms under the water, trying to grasp for anything that might be his roommate.

Under the dark water he caught a glimpse of something and reached for it, before quickly rising back up to the surface.

It was Gibson, unconscious in his arms, and now he was going to have to drag him to the shore, with a sprained ankle, with a monster on bridge right above them.

_Fuuuuuuccccckkkk._

* * *

Under, strafe left, jump back…

So far Chiro hadn't been doing very much besides dodging; knowing that if the sharp blade got him he would probably be done for.

_What the heck? Formless aren't normally this fast!_

Chiro noticed that it was disguised as a human, probably because Mandarin didn't want to draw attention before they got here.

_But why hasn't it changed back? Is this formless special or something?_

He knew that it was formless; it had to be, the blade it was swinging around looked exactly like all the others he had faced, aside from the blood from when it attacked Gibson.

_I guess I should be glad his friend's here._

Right, back, unde- The formless froze mid strike.

_What the…?_

And suddenly it ran, sprinting away.

Chiro gave chase for a moment, before realizing that he should really be more concerned about Gibson.

He spun back around; looking back once more as he ran towards where his friend fell over, _You won't get away next time._

* * *

"Antauri what happened?"

The silver monkey allowed himself to relax slightly before turning to answer his green brother, "Mandarin. He ran off when he saw you three coming."

"Aw man, you mean he followed us all the way here?" Otto slumped in disappointment.

"Coward." Nova muttered, clenching her fists in anger.

Sprx glanced at Nova, "Yeah, well; Mandarin's a lot of things, but he's not dumb enough to think he could take all four of us at the same time without help."

"Mandarin does have help though, we need to hurry." Antauri said, quickly making his way out of the grove, the others following in confusion.

"Help, whaddya mean help?" Sprx said as he struggled to keep up.

"Mandarin said he had sent one of his formless after Gibson. Chiro went to save him, but now Mandarin might be going after him."

"What?" Sprx grunted, "Of course, Mandarin would do something that cowardly; should've known better."

"We must hurry team!"

* * *

"Ugh." Marcel lowered Gibson onto the shore of the stream, trying his best to ignore the pain.

As he caught his breath, Marcel began to look over his friend, trying to find the exact spot of his wound again.

Sure enough, despite the water washing away the previous blood, some new blood was already coming to the surface.

_Shit this is bad, at this rate he'll bleed out. What should I do?_

Marcel went over what little first aid knowledge he had accumulated over the years, _Tourniquet, I need to make him a tourniquet._

Lacking anything else, Marcel removed his soaked shirt and tied it about his roommate's shoulder as tight as he could. _Right, now I should… I should… put pressure on it! Right, pressure._

Marcel pressed as hard as he could on the wound, trying to stem the blood flow. As he did, he noticed something.

_Shit! He's not breathing!_

He put his hand in front of Gibson's mouth and felt nothing.

_Oh Christ! Does that mean I should do CPR?_

He quickly adjusted his position so that he was over his chest. _Okay um, I should check for a heartbeat- I think. Fuck, why didn't I pay attention in health?_

He held his ear to the blonde's chest, thankfully hearing a beat, a faint one albeit.

_Okay! He's got a beat! That just means um… mouth to mouth._

He stared at his roommate's mouth.

… _let's just get this over with Marcel._

* * *

Chiro scanned the stream from atop the bridge, looking for any sign of his teammate, finding it difficult despite the fact that the rain was beginning to settle down.

After about half a minute though, he was able to vaguely make out something on the shore, just a bit of a ways down the stream. He quickly made it to the end of the bridge, and was about to make his way down the shore when he was interrupted.

"Chiro!"

He whipped his head around, "Guys! Am I glad you're here, Gibson's hurt."

Otto gasped, "Where is he?"

"I'm pretty sure he's this way, c'mon!"

The five began off in the direction Chiro indicated.

Antauri looked over at Chiro as they ran, "I take it that it was the formless that injured Gibson?"

"Yeah, only the weird thing was, the formless was disguised as like a human, and it never dropped the disguise, even when fighting me."

"Strange." Antauri muttered.

"Yeah, yeah. We can discuss it later, I think I see someone." Said Sprx.

About five seconds later the team came to two young men, one of whom was coughing up water on the ground, while the other watched over him.

"Umm…"

The boy looking over the coughing one looked up, eyes widening in shock as he registered what was in front of him. "What the fuck!"


	24. Half Pai

 

  
**TIME:** 21:30UTC+1  
 **LOCATION:** Munich, Germany

Marcel laughed sardonically and leaned against the creaky wall. "So… robotic monkeys from outer space. Can't really say that I saw this one coming."

"To be honest, I would be surprised if you had," Antauri responded, a polite smile on his face as he gazed out at the rainstorm roaring outside.

"I imagine it's not something most people would consider." Marcel sighed lightly.

The seven of them had fled to a nearby maintenance shed, a rather large thing that held all manner of landscaping tools, for shelter from both the weather and any further attackers. He and the young boy, Chiro, carried his roommate's limp form the whole way. The silver monkey… robot… thing, named Antauri, had explained what he could to him, of which Marcel would later admit he understood little.

Chiro emerged that moment from a backroom where they had set down Gibson, his attention immediately turning to Marcel.

"You know, you really shouldn't be here,' Chiro said matter-of-factly. "You should -"

"What? Go home and pretend that none of this ever happened?" He snorted, folding his hands behind his head. "Yeah. Fat fuckin' chance kid."

"This isn't a game; you saw what that formless did to Gibson," Sprx said, who was playing the role of guard at the shed's entrance. He turned to glare at him with pure black eyes Marcel found unnerving.

"Even more reason to stick around," Marcel shrugged.

Otto looked at him with confusion. "You aren't scared?"

Marcel laughed. It was faked, of course; he was actually scared shitless, but he wasn't going to let that on. "What can I say? I'm a thrill seeker. Besides, I can't leave Gibson alone with you guys. How do I know you're being honest? For all I know you could be some kind of intergalactic bounty hunters trying to bring him in for money."

"Are you deaf or something?" Sprx exclaimed. "This isn't some movie, kid. You could die, ya hear me?"

"And strangely, I don't really care." Marcel folded his arms. "You're not gonna scare me off."

Sprx turned to Antauri. "I say we knock him out and leave with Gibson."

The door to the back room swung open.

"What's the matter, Sprx? Don't like getting a taste of your own medicine?"

It was hard to believe, but Marcel knew that voice anywhere. "Holy shit! Is that really you, Gibson?"

The little blue monkey cyborg bowed politely in front of him, a smug, knowing smile on his face that Marcel knew could only belong to his roommate.

"Yes, one Dr. Hal Gibson at your service, Marcel," said a Gibson. "It's a pleasure to meet you with my faculties restored."

"Ha, my college roommate is now a blue cyborg monkey doctor from outer space!" Marcel laughed. "Either I've dropped some serious acid or this is the weirdest day anyone on Earth has ever had."

"Joking aside Marcel, you should listen to Sprx," continued Gibson.

Marcel tried to speak up but Gibson shook his head. "This is far too dangerous for you to be joining us."

"What? No, dude, I'm not just gonna leave this alone!"

"Leave or I'll make you leave." Everyone looked back at the door Gibson had emerged from; standing in the frame was the yellow monkey, Nova. To be honest, she was the only one of them who actually scared Marcel; the others all seemed pretty much okay, but there was something unnerving about her.

"Nova, there is no need for violence," Antauri said in a calming, reassuring tone that made Marcel think of one of his old school counsellors.

Nova looked over at the silver monkey, Marcel noted that the dim light made her eyes look an angry red rather than pink. "I'm not gonna let someone get killed on our watch Antauri."

"Well, beating him up isn't the way to do that." Chiro stepped forward so he was standing between Marcel and her.

It was a non-sequitur, but after having the thought pop into his head Marcel had to voice it. "Do you guys need to get back to your ship?"

"Yeah, why?" Chiro asked.

Marcel grinned, overcome with pride and relief that he now had an angle to work from. "I could help if you let me come along."

"Help?" repeated Sprx. "How could you help?"

"Before we even get to that topic, where is our ship anyway?" Gibson asked.

"Well, I checked Chiro's tracker, and it says it's in Central Siberia," answered Otto.

"I suppose we should just be glad it's still summer in the northern hemisphere then," Gibson murmured.

Marcel grinned further, knowing that he now had a near sure way in. "How do you guys expect to get all the way to Siberia? Pretty sure you can't walk from here."

"We'll catch a plane," Nova countered.

"Hah, good luck finding one," Marcel carefully inched away from Nova. "Central Siberia isn't exactly the vacation hot spot of the year."

"I'd like to see you think of something better, a-hole," said Sprx

"Actually, he probably can," Gibson sighed.

"Wha'd ya mean, Gibson?" asked Otto.

Marcel took out his cell phone, silently hoping it had survived his trip in the river. "Let's just say I didn't get into this university because of my stellar grades."

* * *

 

  
**TIME:** 15:45 UTC+12  
 **LOCATION:** Wellington, New Zealand

"So that's our plan!" Jinmay hissed, partially out of annoyance at the repeated bumps, but mostly at the current state of affairs.

Hyun Jae raised an eyebrow as she sat next to her on the bus, an old, banged up thing. It probably should have been retired a few years ago in Jinmay's opinion.

"You've got a better one?" Hyun Jae asked

"Yeah, I sneak past security!"

Hyun Jae rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, sneak past the dozens of cameras and a multitude of armed guards, both of which are often strategically placed at chokepoints. Look, if we had a better plan available I'd gladly take it. But seeing as you have no passport, or even a way of identifying yourself, and I really don't know where I'd go to get a forgery, this is our only choice."

"How fast will this thing be flying?" Jinmay asked

"About 800 kilometers per hour at minimum; can you fly that fast?" What frustrated most Jinmay the most about Hyun Jae was how she acted like a condescending parent, never smiling when proving her wrong, just a straight face, although Jinmay was sure it hid a satisfied grin.

"No…" Jinmay sighed as she rested her head back against the lumpy seat back, her mind unable to come up with possible alternatives. "The cargo hold it is."

"I just wish we had figured this out before I ordered two tickets," said Hyun Jae. "I don't need to spend any more money and getting a refund isn't really possible."

"Well, is there anything else you can do with an unused plane ticket?" Jinmay didn't really care at this point if Hyun Jae lost some money, but then again the girl was financing the trip.

"Give it to me?" A small voice answered from behind.

* * *

Jinmay sat silently on the bench outside the airport entrance, right where the bus dropped them off. Although everyone else on the bus quickly made their way inside after they arrived, Jinmay was forced to wait while… affairs were being dealt with.

"No, no, no, _no_." Hyun Jae shook her head violently, almost as if in denial about the current situation.

"But-"

"No." Hyun Jae glared at the interrupting girl, obviously holding herself back from launching herself at the blonde who had secretly tailed them to the airport.

"Why not?" Ally asked stubbornly, to which even Jinmay found herself annoyed by.

Hyun Jae sputtered, obviously trying to narrow down the list of reasons why this was wrong. "Because… kidnapping!"

"But I want to come with you!" Ally insisted, almost whining really.

"You are _twelve_!" Hyun Jae exclaimed; it was at this point that Jinmay started to notice the large amount of watching eyes.

"So?"

Just as Hyun Jae was about to explode, Jinmay intervened; grabbing the Korean girls arm. "Um, you're kind of causing a scene."

Hyun Jae blushed, obviously embarrassed, and proceeded to drag Jinmay and Ally away from the main entrance to a less traffic heavy area.

"C'mon, just let me tag along!" begged Ally. "I promise I won't be any trouble!"

"No, I know your brother did not just… just…" Hyun Jae seemed to be lost, her unfamiliarity with English language finally seeming to catch up with her, not that Jinmay could be all too sure, the language thing still confused her, but she supposed she might as well help.

"Change his mind?" Jinmay finished

"Yes, thank you," said Hyun Jae. "In fact, just translate for me, because I'm way too pissed to bother with English."

Hyun Jae started ranting with Jinmay repeating after her. "Alright, you aren't coming with us because you're still a minor and even if you want to come it's still considered a crime! I am refusing to be responsible for someone who thinks that this is going to be a fun little trip around the world when two people are already dead!"

Jinmay did not repeat the last part.

"Wait what?" she rounded on Hyun Jae.

"Crap," Hyun Jae murmured.

"What do you mean, two people are already dead?" Jinmay exclaimed, trying not to shout and attract attention.

Hyun Jae crossed her arms and averted her gaze. "I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd just panic."

"Oh!" Jinmay threw her arms up in disbelief. "So that makes it okay to lie to me?"

"First of all, I never lied to you," Hyun Jae stated. "Secondly, neither of them fit the profile."

Jinmay's face scrunched up in confusion. "Profile?"

"Neither of them were people with global amnesia. But the girl who went missing has both of those, just like Antauri and Otto."

"What's the girl's name?" She asked anxiously, hoping desperately that it was who she thought it was.

"Nova."

Jinmay sighed in relief, leaning back against the wall. "Thank Shuggazoom."

Before she could truly relax or think the events over, the two were interrupted.

"Um, if you two are done, can we go catch our flight?" Ally said.

"You are not coming!" Hyun Jae exclaimed.

All was silent for a few moments until Ally shrugged dismissively. "Okay then."

"…Okay?" Jinmay repeated uncertainly.

"Yeah, I have to go home anyways and post that little video to YouTube," Ally said, waving her cell phone in her face.

"What?" Hyun Jae exclaimed.

Jinmay was, meanwhile, confused, although she knew that Ally was up to something.

Ally looked up from her cell, wide-eyed innocent. "Hmm? Oh yeah, nothing big, it's just that whenever I see something cool, like Jinmay's whole presentation for us, I flip out my phone, ya' know."

Hyun Jae glared at the twelve-year-old. "You _wouldn't_."

"Well I'll have trouble getting to my computer if I'm on a plane flying away from here," Ally grinned mischievously.

Jinmay looked over at Hyun Jae hoping that she had some idea as to what to do, who herself quickly looked back at her before staring back at Ally and sighing dejectedly.

"Let's just go,' mumbled Hyun Jae.

"Woohoo!" cried Ally.

Hyun Jae began trudging off back to the main area, while the other two followed. "Fucking brat." She muttered.

* * *

 

  
**LOCATION:** Munich, Germany

Sprx approached Nova, who was still standing away from the rest of the group.

"So, are we gonna talk or not?" he asked.

"I…" Nova looked over at her other four team members who were still discussing things with Marcel while simultaneously keeping watch of the shed entrance. "Alright, but not here, not in front of everyone."

The two made their way to the back room of the shed, but not before Sprx realized that Antauri was looking at the two of them. Before the red simian could say anything, Antauri gave an understanding nod and went back to conversing with the others.

In the back room there was a small bench and a set of lockers, and what Sprx figured was the entrance to a small bathroom. Apparently it was where the workers got ready for the day and judging by the smell Sprx figured they weren't particularly obsessed with keeping the area clean.

The two sat down on the wooden bench.

"So… what happened?" Sprx asked. "What did Mandarin do?"

Nova opened her mouth but promptly closed it, obviously having trouble trying to find what to say.

Sprx of course had already assumed the worse before the conversation had started. "Did, did he try and make a move on you? Is that it? I mean, I know he's always been a sicko and -"

Nova shook her head violently. "No! No, Sprx, do you really think I'd have let him?"

"No, I mean, not _let_ him but-"

Nova cast her gaze downward. "It wasn't what he did to me."

Sprx remained silent. Nova's grip on the bench began to tense, her strength cracking the wood.

"Do you think that I would care if he did something to me? I choose to do this Sprx! I joined the team knowing there were risks! And he…" She laughed a small, sad laugh, "was the type of person I was supposed to protect, that I swore I would protect. But…I couldn't, I failed."

"Nova, what happened?" Sprx whispered.

"He killed him. Mandarin murdered my friend right in front of me. And I…" Nova's head drooped as she used her hands to wipe at tears that never came.

"Nova."

"Don't apologize, Sprx-"

Nova froze at the touch, not honestly expecting it. Sprx hugged her close, not knowing what else to do.

The two stayed there like that for about a minute, neither saying a word nor moving an inch.

It was Nova who ended it, shrugging off the arms encircling her. "…just help me do our jobs and stop him.


	25. ехать зайцем

 

  
**Time:** 22:00 UTC+1  
 **Location:** Munich, Germany

Marcel turned to Antauri and Gibson. "Hey um, where exactly in Central Siberia are we talking? It's not exactly a small place."

Gibson pressed... something, Marcel wasn't sure what exactly, but he supposed it wasn't surprising he had buttons on him, being part robot and all. After a moment of strange beeping sounds Gibson turned to him.

"The coordinates are approximately 63 N, 101 E," Gibson answered. "That said I don't have access to any sort of internet, so I can't tell you what airports are nearby."

"Airports?" Chiro asked.

Antauri sighed "Now Chiro we talked about this, we need go by plane in order to assure-"

"I know Antauri, I know," Chiro cut him off. "I was just wondering...um..."

"Shush!" Marcel waved him off as he attempted to resume his call. "Yeah, can you just hang on a second? I need to check something really quick. I'll call right back."

Marcel nodded as the muffled voice on the other side of the phone raised in volume.

"...Uh-huh...Yeah, look I know – I'm sorry, okay, but this is really important."

Marcel's eyes widened.

"...No, this isn't about a girl!" he spluttered. "There are plenty of those here, anyway!"

Marcel kneaded his forehead for a few seconds as the voice continued.

"...Okay, okay, look I'm hanging up right now. I'll be right back." Marcel quickly tapped the phone and let out an annoyed hum.

Antauri looked at him sympathetically. "Not exactly the most stable relationship between you and your...?"

"Dad. We..." he waved his hand about, as if hoping to grab the needed words from the air, "...have our problems."

"That's one way of putting it," Gibson snorted and rolled his eyes,.

Marcel glared at him.

Gibson waved his hands defensively. "I said nothing else!"

Marcel turned back to his phone.

Otto attempted to strike up some small talk. "So what's your-"

"Okay, there." Marcel declared as he completely ignored Otto, quickly pressing the phone back to his ear. "Hey, I'm back. Sorry about that."

He winced as the voice came back louder than last time. "Yes, I know what time it is! I wouldn't have called if it wasn't urgent..."No I'm not trying to do anything illegal!...At least I don't think so...Nothing – look the airport is KJA...No, I have not gotten involved in the Russian Mafia! I told you this is for a friend, he needs to make an emergency trip!"

Marcel was starting to look nervous, although he was able to hide it in his voice.

"To see his family, his um...mom, I think he said, got in a car accident and might not make it."

"Because he can't afford it! Look, what do you need me to do? Cause I will be willing to do just about whatever you ask if you – !"

Marcel fell silent.

"What." It wasn't a question, it was too flat to be a question. A desperate chuckle. "C'mon, isn't there something el-"

Marcel's face contorted, as if speaking was physically painful.

"I...fine okay, I... shit, I promise to go to the wedding if you arrange the flight. There, I said it."

There were a few moments of heavy silence before Marcel sighed deeply.

"Thanks, Dad."

Chiro rocked back and forth on his feet, not exactly sure what to say in the awkward situation. "So..."

Marcel lazily glowered at him. "No, I'm not telling you what that was about, it's private, you little shit."

Chiro was taken aback, and was ready with a rebuttal when Gibson sighed. "Just leave him alone Chiro, he doesn't mean it."

Chiro glanced between the two, wondering of what nature was the relationship that had developed between the team's brains and the college student. It didn't seem all that different from his and Sprx's, although there was definitely something different about it. It was then that Chiro realized something.

"Hey, wait, guys where's Sprx?" He looked around, not seeing him, or Nova for that matter.

Antauri looked like he was about to say something when the door in the back opened. Sprx proudly strutted into the room.

"Right here, kid," Sprx announced. "Me and Nova were having a private chat."

"There are a lot of jokes I could make about that, but I'll contain myself." Marcel quipped, peaking out of the shed before turning back."It's stopped raining by the way."

"Good," said Nova, "it'll be harder for Mandarin and his Formless to follow us without us noticing."

"Um, was it just me, or was that Formless kinda freaky?" Otto asked.

"Formless? You mean that guy on the bridge that attacked us?" Marcel asked, trying to remember the details of the event.

Antauri mused the possibilities. "Yes… it was quite strange; it seems Mandarin has it taking a more humanoid form. Perhaps so it can blend in more easily, it wouldn't be the first time such a thing has happened. That said, they normally loose their disguise when they attack."

"They were covered in blood…" Everyone looked over at Marcel who was staring into the middle distance, obviously trying to piece together the memories of the chaotic attack.

"What was covered in blood?" Nova asked, a grim look on her face.

Marcel looked at his hands, flexing his fingers. "Its claws, they were still red so it must have been pretty fresh." He shook his head and laughed. "That thing really was going to kill us."

Chiro's eyes widened as he realized what that meant. "Wait so…"

"Yes, it would appear that Mandarin is no longer just a threat to us," Antauri sighed. "I knew he had fallen, but still, to take an innocent life..."

Nova snorted angrily. "You're surprised? We shouldn't have bothered locking him away. We should've just gotten rid of him."

Marcel looked amongst the group for help. "Um… kinda lost here."

"I'll explain later Marcel," promised Gibson. "It's a very long story."

Antauri looked at Nova with disapprovingly. "If we had done that we would be no better than the forces we wish to combat."

"I'm just saying if we had known then what we know now. There's a difference Antauri." She looked at the ground forlornly. "Trust me, I was stupid enough to think that he might change back to normal too."

An uncomfortable silence hung over the shed before Marcel decided to break it. "Well, as wonderfully awkward it is to hear about your past with the guy who just tried to murder me, we should get going. The flight's tomorrow…" he glanced at his phone, "well today actually, and it's only on a biweekly basis, and I rather not wait that long."

"He's right, it will take some time to get us past airport security," Gibson agreed.

"Yeah, it always take us a couple of hours," said Chiro.

Marcel looked worried, "Sneak past…? You mean that thing that if you get caught doing, there are people who will shoot you?"

"Heh, relax kid, you don't have to do it, just us." Sprx replied.

Marcel smirked. "Yeah, seeing as my dad is on the board of Lufthansa, I think I can do a bit better than that for us."

* * *

 

**Time:** 16:30 UTC+12  
 **Location:** Wellington, New Zealand

Hyun Jae stared blankly ahead at the dull beige that was the back of another passenger's seat, "I can't believe it."

Ally squirmed in her seat, trying to get the buckle on correctly. "Well, at least they gave us a discount on the other tickets."

Hyun Jae clenched her fists in obvious anger and frustration. "Yes, they better have. I cannot believe it, of all the times for the Hawaiian Islands to start…" she searched for a correct word, "spitting out smoke it was _now_."

"I think you mean ash, and it could be worse," Ally shrugged, she was far too excited about the trip to care that a once in a lifetime event had just closed off most of the Pacific flight paths.

Hyun Jae on the other hand, was quite a bit more concerned, and looked back down at her ticket stub, "We have to go the _opposite_ way, with stops in Sri Lanka, Brazil, and… I don't even know where 'Mozz… amba… iquu' is. Did I even say that right?"

Ally peeked at her own ticket. "I think it's pronounced 'Moe zaam beek'."

"Either way, this means our flight will take several days as opposed to one," Hyun Jae sighed.

Ally smiled as she adjusted her seat, "Well, it's a good thing I'm one of those people who can sleep anywhere. How about you?"

Hyun Jae's head sank down into her hands, "…I am going to be horrible on this flight."

"I think you mean miserable."

Hyun Jae glared icily at Ally, causing the preteen to sink back into her seat; not very far mind, airplane seats weren't giving enough to allow that.

Ally attempted to change the topic. "I just hope Jinmay was right about being able to handle the baggage hold. It's going to get wicked cold down there."

"I think she will be okay." Hyun Jae felt that if she made it from deep space and then crash landed in the ocean with nary a scratch, the robot girl could probably handle some sub-zero temperatures.

"I hope so," said Ally.

"Attention passengers; please…"

* * *

  
**Time:** 5:00 UTC+1

**Location:** Munich, Germany

"…fasten your seatbelts and put your trays in their upright and locked positions."

Marcel rolled his eyes. "So does she always do this, or only when there are other people to annoy?"

The copilot for the flight, a brunette in her mid-twenties by Marcel's judgment, smiled. "She always does, I think she believes it's for the cargo's benefit."

The pilot, a graying Russian woman whose wrinkles suggested more an abundance of stress and less so age, giggled. "Well, we are delivering some high value cargo, Sandra. Safety first, even more so now that we've got two handsome young men accompanying us." She glanced back. "Tell you what, how 'bout I take the college kid and you take the younger one. You two seem to be about the same age. Plus you did tell me you like the cute ones."

"Uhh…" Chiro, sitting next to Marcel for the flight, was glowing red and looking more than a little agog.

It wasn't surprising to Marcel, the kid looked to be 15 at best, and even he found the older woman's attention somewhat disturbing.

Sandra sighed as she took out a book. "Ignore her you two, she's harmless; plus if she actually did try anything I'm pretty sure she'd break something."

"I will have you know I've been taking my calcium!" she said.

Sandra began to flip through her book. "Anna? No one cares."

Anna grumbled a bit before glancing back again to her two passengers, "So what's the story with you again? Chico, right?"

"Uh, Chiro actually, my mom got in a car accident so I'm going back home, you know, family emergency." Chiro looked extremely uncomfortable, but he managed to pull off the lie well enough,

Anna nodded as she adjusted some controls. "Ah, well here's hoping she'll be all right. And what about you, Marcel? Why are you accompanying him? Are you two cousins or something?"

Marcel smirked ."So you can memorize my name but not his?"

"His father can't fire me."

Marcel shrugged. it was always a bit strange dealing with his father's employees. "Fair enough. And no, we're classmates actually; my dad may have mentioned something about that?"

Sandra turned her attention away from her book, looking at Chiro in bewilderment. "Classmates? What, are you one of those really advanced kids who skipped some grades?"

"Uh…w-well…" Chiro stammered.

Marcel covered. "Chiro's actually 18, he just looks really young, he always gets that question."

Anna chuckled. "18? You hear that Sandra, that means he's legal!"

Marcel and Sandra simultaneously facepalmed, while Chiro turned a brighter red while sputtering. Marcel had a feeling that this was going to be a _very_ long flight.


	26. одного поля ягода

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The girls continue on their way to Denver, and the team goes to Russia. Criticism and what not is always welcome.

**Chapter 26**

**одного поля ягода**

* * *

 

**LOCATION:**  Maputo, Mozambique

**TIME:** 2:00 UTC+2

"How can it be this hot in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night?" Ally attempted to fan herself, it doing little to alleviate the sweat covering her body. The airport had relatively little in terms of air conditioning, and it seemed unusually humid in Mozambique.

"Because we are close to the equator." Hyun Jae stated, trying her best to remain neutral in spite of the annoyance of both the heat and her tagalong.

She had quickly begun to regret bringing along the young girl, she did little beside prater on mindlessly, and was sorely tempted to leave her behind to fend for herself. Fortunately for Ally, Hyun Jae did have a conscience… as well as the knowledge that she'd be held culpable if anything happened to the girl.

"Do you think Jinmay will be alright? Switching between the planes I mean. I mean, besides this, we have three more switches, it's kind of crazy." Ally asked.

That was actually a legitimate question for once, but then again, there wasn't exactly anything the two of them could do. Best to just put Ally at ease, "She will probably be fine. And this was the soonest flight that would get us to Denver, I checked the time, even with the switches this takes off several hours."

"Well, I guess so."

Hyun Jae nodded, and took out her cell phone to call Jin Sang. She then realized that with the time difference, the boy was probably out cold, and mused that he was probably the type to not get enough sleep as it was.

She sighed as she got up and stretched her legs, "I will be going to the bathroom. Do you need to go?"

"No thanks. And take your time, still two hours before our connecting flight takes off," she sighed, "and I can't fall asleep. Shoulda brought my DS or something."

Hyun Jae rolled her eyes as she made her way towards the woman's room. She noticed that the airport was surprisingly clean considering where in the world they were; but she mused that an airport was essentially where a country made its first impression on visitors, so it was likely things detonated once one left the location.

The woman's bathroom seemed good enough, very clean with sto- *thump* Hyun Jae stumbled.

"Oh meu Deus, me desculpe!" A woman cried out, Hyun Jae looked up from the floor where she now sat, to the dark skinned woman above her, holding out her hand "Você está bem?"

Hyun Jae took her hand, noticing that she was wearing a flight attendent outfit. "Um, thank you. Sorry, I do not speak Portuguesa."

The young lady helped her to her feet, "Ah, sorry. American?"

Hyun Jae shook her head, then began to brush herself off, "No I am from Korea, but I know no one here speaks that."

"Oh, you are a long way from home then." She bowed her head slightly, "I am very sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going."

Hyun Jae appreciated that the young woman was trying to adhere to East Asian standards, even though she probably had no idea of the Korean specifics, "No, it is okay. I wasn't either."

"You're sure you're alright Miss?"

"I'm fine…" she glanced down at the girl's nametag, "Saada."

* * *

 

  
**LOCATION:** approx. 60 miles east of Moscow

  
**TIME:** 6:00 UTC+3

"I thought your friend said it was supposed to be warm in here." Otto mumbled as he wrapped the blanket around himself tightly.

Gibson sighed, "He said it was warm-er than a luggage bay of a passenger plane. Which is true Otto, it's barely below freezing in here."

Antauri nodded, "Yes, I am glad Sprx knew about that before we snuck aboard that plane to Brazil. Neither you nor I knew how cold it got in there, Otto. We might have died in those temperatures"

All this talk of cold; everyone glanced over at Nova, who was wrapped up tight in a wool blanket and sleeping away. Antauri sighed deeply; everyone was worried about her, and so far Nova remained completely silent on what was disturbing her; well, almost completely. He looked back at his red brother, "Is there any chance you are going to tell us about the conversation you two had, back in that tool shed?"

Sprx looked over at Antauri, "It was…" he shook his head, "No, sorry Antauri but she'd hate me if I told you like this. She's already been through enough without having me go behind her back."

"So you know what happened then?"

Sprx seemed to be slowly shrinking into himself as he recalled the conversation, "Yeah, it's… it was pretty messed up. But she's gotta be the one who talks about it, not me."

Antauri narrowed his eyes towards his brother in suspicion, "Are you sure? I know you think you're doing her a favor, but if this is something that might be a danger to Nova, you have to tell us Sprx."

Sprx glared, "It's not, and even if it was I don't  _have_  to tell you anything."

"Oh, both of you stop it." Gibson snapped at them. "You can ask her when she wakes up, Antauri, last time I checked she has the right to make her own decisions."

A silence fell over the group, with the only noise being the constant dull roar of the plane engine and the air whipping past. It was an uncomfortable situation for all of them, finally being together again as a team, but still feeling so separate after all they had experienced on their own; having to abandon what they had come to know as their new lives, new friends.

Otto was the one to break the silence, "Why don't we all get some sleep you guys? I know that Nova's not the only one who's tired, and I'm sure Chiro will wake us up if anything important happens."

Gibson glared over at Otto and tried his best to subtly motion to Antauri. The silver monkey smiled sadly, "It is alright Gibson, I can meditate; I think it would do me some good."

As the other wrapped themselves in the blankets Chiro had managed to slip them as they snuck aboard the plane, Antauri began to slip into a meditative state.

In truth, what had gone unsaid by Gibson was affecting Antauri somewhat; the sudden transition from a fully organic young man to this robotic body still somewhat affected him. In particular, these long stretches of time where everyone else slept and he was left alone with his thoughts in such a small space. It was different back in Shuggazoom, things weren't quite as tense then; here and now everyone nerves were still raw, and the situation unsure. It was at times like this, he wished he could sleep so he could have a brief respite.

* * *

Ally was trying her best to read a book Hyun Jae had purchased for her, to keep her occupied during the flight. Ally realized it was better than nothing, but she was starting to understand that this 'adventure' was mostly going to be very long and boring. Not to mention that the book wasn't very good; it was trying to be some mystery thriller or something, but Ally had already figured out both who the murderer was and how she did it. Then again, the only other alternative was… nothing, she wasn't tired enough to sleep.

And thus she sat there, reading her crappy little book; hoping that something would happen to distract her, to give her something else to do. As if on cue, she looked up and saw that Hyun Jae had returned.

"Hey, um… who is this?" A young woman, just about Hyun Jae's age, stood beside her, wearing what looked like a flight attendant outfit.

Hyun Jae seemed strangely happy as she motioned towards the young lady. "This is Saada, she'll be coming with us."

Ally thought she understood, "Oh, you mean she'll be a flight attendant for our flight?"

Saada smiled coyly, "Well yes, but I will also be joining you as a passenger once you transfer in Sao Paulo."

"Huh?"

Hyun Jae plopped down beside her, smiling, "Jinmay did tell us there were more to her friends then Otto and Antauri, remember?"

Ally quickly looked back and forth between the two for conformation, "Wait so-?"

Saada nodded, "Yes, my friend, his name was Sprx, and Hyun Jae has told me that Otto and Antauri were very much like him. Seeing as I am scheduled to attend those two flights regardless, and I can get a significant discount on the two remaining flights, I see no major harm in accompanying you."

Ally was trying to understand, "You won't like, get in trouble with your bosses?"

"I am an acquaintance of his, and he said not as long as I don't take any sick days for a while. I don't get sick much, so it should be fine." Said Saada

Ally was somewhat bewildered, "Wow…" She extended her hand out, "Nice to meet you then, I'm Ally."

Saada took her hand and shook, "It's a pleasure."

The three began to get acquainted, although there was less exchanging basic information and more talking about their respective friends. Saada was about to head off to help prep for the flight before Hyun Jae stopped her.

"I actually have another question Saada, if you don't mind."

Saada shrugged, "I don't think I will."

"How did you and Sprx become friends if you were a flight attendant, this is a job that takes up a lot of time."

"I… only finished training about a week ago, and this is only my third flight. I was hoping to surprise Sprx to be honest; he loved the idea of flying." She sighed deeply, "I hope we will be able to find him."

"We will." Said Hyun Jae, a look of determination on her face.

Saada smiled wistfully, "Thank you. I'll see you on the plane, alright?"

"See ya." Ally waved slightly as she walked off.

* * *

 

  
**TIME:** 12:00 UTC+5

High above the taiga, the cargo plane began to rock slightly as it came across turbulence. One jolt woke Chiro, who had managed to fall asleep a few hours ago in spite of the uncomfortable seats, such a skill learned over the past of having to sleep in far worse places.

As Chiro rubbed his eyes, the indistinct voices at the edge of his awareness came into focus.

"So you know what you're gonna do when we land? You have it planned out?" That sounded like Sandra.

Chiro looked about the cockpit, and saw that her and Marcel were indeed talking, and Anna was now asleep in the copilot seat; her light snoring blending in with the constant dull roar of the engines.

Marcel hadn't noticed that Chiro had awoken, and continued his conversation, "We rent a car and start driving, Chiro knows the way."

Sandra checked the controls as she talked, "You know they don't accept Euros, right?"

"Don't worry, I've got my credit card; I checked and it should work in Russia."

"What about speaking, you know any Russian? Or will sleepy head back there be your personal translator?"

Marcel shrugged, "Pretty much. I only know German and some English, and how to ask directions in French."

"Well, be careful when you're driving, you may have heard, but most of Anna's fellow Russians, aren't what you would call 'good drivers'."

Marcel waved off her concern, "It'll be fine. I passed my driving test like it was nothing."

Anna started giggling, surprising everyone who thought she was asleep, "You tell yourself that, just hope you've got some good insurance kids."

Marcel glanced at her nervously, "Um… thanks."

Chiro had a bad feeling about this, but he was somewhat afraid to talk, he had been letting Marcel do all the talking as to ensure that no one became too suspicious of him. The fact of the matter was he still had very little idea of how things operated on this planet; although from what his teammates had said of their time here, it didn't seem like any of the locals did either.

The planet had been pretty interesting, but at the end of it all he was just happy they were all heading out together again, he couldn't wait to get back to Shuggazoom and see Jinmay again; it had been months, she must be worried something horrible by now.

"What are you thinking about back there kid?"

"Huh?" Chiro glanced up to see Anna looking back at him, a knowing smile on her face. "Oh, just wondering what things are like back home, it's been a little while."

Anna nodded and turned back to lie back in her seat "Well, I always say one of the best parts of traveling is getting to come back home, although yours is a little soured by what's happened."

"Hmm?" Chiro was confused, this lady couldn't possibly know about Nova. Then he remembered the cover story, "Oh, well I'm sure she'll be fine."

At least, Chiro hoped she would be.


End file.
